Buffalo Bills: Ranking the quarterbacks in the AFC East entering 2020

3. Sam Darnold

Here we have Josh Allen’s 2018 draft buddy who went third overall to the New York Jets. Sam Darnold has had a rollercoaster of a career so far, but he has been dealt an unfavorable hand. A poor offense along with a slew of weird injuries, in such a short amount of time for a young QB, has landed him number three on this list.

Career wise, he has not been that impressive with his best season coming during the 2019 campaign where he had a completion percentage of 61.9%, throwing for 3,024 yards with 19 touchdowns versus 13 interceptions.

In his defense, he has had to deal with a very porous offensive line who allowed the third most amount of sacks with 52 in 2019. A pretty weak WR core led by Robbie Anderson who, in his two seasons with Darnold, caught 102 passes for 1,531 yards and 11 TD’s. He has now fled for Carolina.

Then there is running back Le’Veon Bell who was off for an entire year and it showed in his play. The patient running back had only 789 yards rushing to go along with 3 rushing touchdowns while averaging a paltry 3.2 yards per carry. When you add all that up, that is a lot of pressure to put on a young QB.

After the 2019 season ended, general manager Joe Douglas went to work revamping the offensive line signing center Connor McGovern, guard Greg Van Roten, tackle George Fant, and drafting the beast of a man out of Louisville, tackle Mekhi Becton.

With Robbie Anderson departing, Gang Green had to find a replacement to help Darnold. That came in the second round of this year’s draft where Douglas picked up speedy playmaking WR Denzel Mims out of Baylor. On the opposite side of the field will be former Buccaneers wide receiver Breshad Perriman. Both of those guys are over six feet tall and can get up and get the ball. When you throw in Jamison Crowder, the Jets have strengthened what seemed like a weakness not too long ago.

All the moves that have been made in the offseason has been to help Sam Darnold get better and that is music to his ears. Not only to him, but to Le’Veon Bell as well. Hats off to GM Joe Douglas for addressing the needs and quite possibly turning around a mediocre offense to what could be an exciting one, providing that Sam Darnold stays healthy. Until he shows what he can do during a full and healthy season, he will not jump up on this list. Yet.