Hyde5: What the Jets trade of Darnold means for Dolphins, AFC East

Here’s the good news from Monday’s big trade for the Dolphins: The New York Jets will resemble the Jets next season – and possibly seasons to come.

They’ll play a rookie quarterback.

Here’s the bad news: That quarterback, Brigham Young’s Zach Wilson, has wowed scouts over the past several months - and one of the Dolphins punching bags is gone. The Dolphins were 4-1 against Darnold and had 10 interceptions off him against four touchdowns..

You never know about quarterbacks - and the Jets’ drafting of Sam Darnold in 2018 confirms that, just as Dolphins quarterback choices did for years (no conclusion yet on Tua Tagovailoa).

The Jets won’t be any good this season. But if Wilson is as good as some scouts think, the AFC East could be a minefield soon. Buffalo has its quarterback of the next decade in Josh Allen. The Jets think they do now in Wilson – just as the Dolphins think they do in Tagovailoa.

The Patriots? It’s a bit comforting to think the Bill Belichick will remain out of the big money until they get a quarterback. But he’s not going to sit quietly by and watch all this.

Belichick has filled enough holes in free agency to trade draft picks for a quarterback – though the question is there for him. The first three picks (at least) are quarterbacks: Jacksonville takes Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence, the Jets take Wilson and San Francisco takes Justin Fields, Trey Lantz or Mac Jones.

We’ve been here before, of course. The Jets, the Bills and the Dolphins have run through quarterbacks over the last 20 years. The Bills are the only team to know it has a keeper. So we’ll sit back and see just who Wilson is with the Jets - and Tua is with the Dolphins.

2. How good is Wilson? Well, most everyone ranks Lawrence high. But NBC analyst Chris Simms ranks him ahead of Lawrence. He might be the only one – but he comes with credibility. A year ago, he ranked his quarterbacks: 1) Joe Burrow 2) Justin Herbert; 3) Jordan Love; 4) Tua Tagovailoa. Not enough time has passed for conclusions. But after their rookie years Burrow and Herbert looked the best.

“Trevor Lawrence is awesome, there’s no doubt about it,’' Simms said. “And I’m not doing this for clickbait. I have aspirations to be a GM … But I do want to say this: Zach Wilson is clearly the No. 1 quarterback in the draft for me. Zach Wilson is a very special football player from every angle.”

He said of Wilson – “It’s Aaron Rodgers and Patrick Mahomes. That’s where it starts right here. It’s an unbelievably quick release. It’s the ability to throw the ball any which way he wants – side arm, over the top, jumping in the air two feet off the ground, throwing between a guard and a tackle 25 yards down the field ... I was blown away by Zach Wilson when I watched him. He can run – he can rip off 30-yard runs. But he’s like Mahomes or Josh Allen. He doesn’t want to run. But he’ll say, ‘OK, you triple-dog-dared me, I’ll run for 12 yards.’ "

3. For thos wondering how this affects the Dolphins trade options down from No. 6: Carolina is out of the quarterback market. Denver and New England are perhaps the only teams looking that might trade up. But does anyone think the Dolphins will trade with the Patriots? So it’s Denver at No. 9 that’s looking for a quarterback. Maybe the quarterback they like drops to them there. Probably the Dolphins just use the sixth pick.

4. The trade showed how much Darnold’s stock depreciated. In 2018, the Jets’ cost to move from sixth in the draft to third was: that No. 3 pick, two second-round picks that year and a second-rounder in 2019.

Here’s what Carolina paid for him: A sixth-rounder this draft and a second- and fourth-rounder next year. The Jets got nothing to help this year’s team. If Carolina is any good – and they should be decent – that second-round pick next year isn’t such a sure thing, either.

5. It will be interesting to see if the Jets make the same mistake of roster building under GM Joe Douglas that they did in previous years. Darnold had no line, no help. If he didn’t look good - he was the lowest-rated starting quarterback for three years - the organization didn’t exactly help him. The Dolphins did it right last year in drafting three offensive linemen. Douglas has the 23rd pick (from Seattle) and the 34th pick as prime chips in this draft.