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Boomer & Gio

Best of the Jets on WFAN: Rooting for Sam Darnold?

25 Jan 2026

Transcription

Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.

Chapter 1: Why do Evan and Tiki support Sam Darnold despite his Jets tenure?

1.837 - 22.967 Tiki Barber

I'm really not a bitter guy. I'm a good guy. At least I think I am. And I have always liked Sam Darnold. From the moment that I laid eyes on him and I was an amateur scout watching him at USC, I always wanted the Jets to select Sam Darnold. I was excited when they selected Sam Darnold. I always liked Sam Darnold.

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23.107 - 41.183 Tiki Barber

Even when the era ended badly and the Jets decided to move on from him, I always liked him. And even now, I like Sam Darnold. So I've had a few people ask me, hey, what are you rooting for? Like, do you want Sam in the Super Bowl? I'm mixed for this reason. I like Sam. I have no issue with Sam Donnell going to a Super Bowl.

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41.644 - 62.927 Tiki Barber

The problem is if he does and if he is instrumental or even not instrumental, he's just on the Seahawks and they win the NFC Championship game on Sunday night, there are going to be people, I'm not saying you, I am definitely saying Sean, and many others who are going to make it an LOL Jets thing. Really? It's not about the Jets. How many teams has he been on?

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Chapter 2: What could have happened if the Jets drafted Josh Allen instead of Sam Darnold?

62.907 - 85.784 Tiki Barber

Since the Jets. Teak, you're rational. Yes. But you know deep down, if I ask you to get into the brains of people, that if Sam Darnold wins on Sunday and he is going to the Super Bowl, there's going to be a lot of talk, mostly locally, but some of it nationally, about the Jets. The Jets had him. What they could have had. Everything about it. And that's why I am conflicted.

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85.804 - 105.463 Tiki Barber

Because as a human, when I sit there on Sunday, Teague, I like Sam. We've had a lot of discussions about him over the years. I like him. I don't dislike him. But yet, I can feel it in my bones that guys like Sean and others are going to turn it into... Ha ha ha, the Jets. Ha ha. And that's what kills me. And that's why I don't know what to do anymore.

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105.503 - 116.202 Tiki Barber

Yeah, it's hard because we all know that the Jets failed Sam Darnold. And it's kind of been their M.O. for any quarterback that they've had. You go back to...

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Chapter 3: What are the implications of Sam Darnold potentially winning a Super Bowl?

116.182 - 134.275 Tiki Barber

Geno Smith, when they were dictating where he should throw the ball, hey Geno, don't read anything, just throw it to this guy. Oh yeah, sorry, that interception, that's on me. So we know that the Jets have not been kind to quarterbacks in their development, and you could almost say, as I rethink this,

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134.997 - 142.469 Tiki Barber

When he had that viral comment that everybody still talks about when they think about Sam Darnold. And now you're about to bring it up again. Probably. LOL Jets.

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Chapter 4: What inside information do the hosts have about defensive coordinators refusing to interview with the Jets?

142.489 - 164.064 Tiki Barber

Let's go. Go ahead. It's not even for an LOL Jets standpoint. I'm actually going to kill the general manager here. When Sam Darnold had that, man, I'm seeing ghosts moment, sitting on the sideline, did he not know he was miked? I think he forgot in the moment that he was Mike. I'm seeing ghosts. That thing defined who Sam Darnold was. He's terrible. He can't find anything. He can't read.

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164.084 - 172.678 Tiki Barber

He's imagining things out on the football field. He is not equipped to be a good quarterback in this league. It's who we all thought he was.

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Chapter 5: How do Jets fans feel about rooting for Sam Darnold now?

173.139 - 197.271 Tiki Barber

And I honestly think that because of that, The Joe Douglas and whoever else was involved in the front office making those decisions said, we can't have him. So think about how history would be changed if Joe Douglas had just forgotten that, still saw the potential, maybe a new coordinator coming in because they traded him right before the Saleh era. It was during the solid era.

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197.291 - 198.413 Evan

Right at the beginning of the solid era.

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198.433 - 229.193 Tiki Barber

They hired him and then they traded him. Imagine if Mike LaFleur, who is the young offensive coordinator, has Sam Darnold instead of Zach Wilson and some other great pick. Instead of trading Sam Darnold and taking Zach Wilson, you get another great pick with Sam Darnold and he becomes the player that he is now. What if that happened? Like the alternate history of the Sam Donald era?

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229.213 - 246.089 Tiki Barber

Because he was going into his fourth year. Do you see what you just did without doing it? What's that? You just LOL'd the Jets in an intellectual way. I'm just saying that sometimes we get so enamored with the narrative about someone that we forget who he is or we forget who he should have been.

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246.129 - 265.308 Tiki Barber

And then now you are not reaping the benefits of who he became because he's bounced a lot of different places. Absolutely. It's not like he just went there. He was in Carolina. He was in San Francisco. Obviously, the success he had last year in Minnesota and now the success in Seattle. He's been on a bunch of different teams. Wait, he's been on four teams in four years now.

265.448 - 285.229 Tiki Barber

Four teams in four years. He's been one of the most winning guys in the NFL. Well, the last two years he has. Yeah, that's what I mean. But what you did was, and you're not wrong, and I do want to re-litigate this because it bothers me and I may think about it every once in a while. Go ahead. You've LOL'd the Jets without doing it on purpose. But I'm not LOLing Sam. I'm not LOLing the fan base.

286.27 - 309.631 Tiki Barber

I'm LOLing the... What the hell were you thinking? Dude, that's LOLing. What do you mean? It's not about LOLing Sam. It's about you explaining in a more intellectual way how dumb it was for the Jets to move on from Sam Darnold when they did. For another project that you weren't equipped to train either. For Zach Wilson! Who didn't give us any of the signs that Sam gave us.

Chapter 6: What are the current feelings of Jets fans regarding their team's quarterback situation?

309.751 - 328.831 Tiki Barber

So what you're doing in probably a smarter way than how Sean will or other people will is you're laughing at the Jets. I'm not laughing at the Jets. You are. I'm lamenting what should have been. And by the way, I'm not even discerning. agreeing with what should have been. But if he wins on Sunday, and as we saw last week against San Francisco, I'm not putting Sam down.

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328.891 - 344.466 Tiki Barber

It's not as if he's the engine to their winning. They have a great defense. Fantastic. They ran the football incredibly well. And oh, by the way, they started the game with a special teams touchdown. So I'm not putting it like Sam's Dan Marino. But nevertheless, if you're the quarterback of a team that gets to the Super Bowl, you deserve a lot of credit.

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344.706 - 362.895 Tiki Barber

And the Seahawks have had a top five offense this season. They deserve a lot of credit. He's won 28 games the last two years. He deserves a lot of credit. But if there's two weeks of buildup for him competing in a Super Bowl, you know as well as I do, whether it's relitigating the decision to move on from him or just making fun of the Jets, we're going to be the butt of people's jokes.

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363.396 - 365.039 Tiki Barber

And so that's my confliction.

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Chapter 7: How do the hosts compare the Jets' and Giants' current situations?

365.059 - 381.143 Tiki Barber

I even put a poll out like 15 minutes ago, and I said to my fellow Jet fans, how do you feel about Sam this weekend? Like, are you rooting for him? Are you rooting against him? Or is there an indifference? And I don't know if you'll be surprised by this. 68% of Jet fans say, I'm going to root for him. Of course.

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381.383 - 401.548 Tiki Barber

Which is my feeling until I realize what rooting for him looks like and what the after effects are. Like, yes, I'll root for him. I don't dislike him. I have no bitterness towards him. But if they win, we're the joke. And maybe some Jet fans want to be the joke, like it makes them feel better. I'm sick of getting made fun of.

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401.568 - 422.268 Tiki Barber

But I think it's too far removed from Sam Donald being here to be the butt of it. It's five years. This is his eighth season. He played three with the Jets. This is his eighth season. How can you still feel like you're the butt of the joke when he's so far removed? Can I? Can I go? My exhibit A. Go ahead. I fear to hear this. Go ahead.

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422.288 - 439.239 Tiki Barber

And I'm going to ask you to let me finish making the point because I know what the rebuttal is going to be and you're going to jump it. Not only did the Jets fail to develop Sam Donald to the point that here he is eight years later knocking on the door of a Super Bowl. They could have gotten him back this past offseason when they were looking for a quarterback.

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439.279 - 441.722 Tiki Barber

And you're rushed to sign Justin freaking Fields.

442.102 - 442.983 Evan

So you're watching.

443.164 - 460.003 Tiki Barber

We're sitting here going, who the hell? We have the second pick. There's no quarterbacks available. Sam Darnold had such a sour taste in his mouth for how the Jets handled and developed him that a completely new regime either didn't think it was even a possibility to bring him back or Sam Darnold would have never even considered it. And we're still looking for this Jet quarterback.

460.043 - 477.146 Tiki Barber

They had Justin Fields. They could have signed the guy knocking on the door of the Super Bowl. They've missed on Sam Darnold twice. You're not wrong. That's not even a troll. I think there's a lot of truth to that. Now, if I'm being fair, a year ago, I viewed Sam more as, you know, give Kevin O'Connell a lot of credit. If you bring him here, it's not going to work out.

477.286 - 496.551 Tiki Barber

In conjunction with, I didn't think Sam wanted to be here. But the Jets never tried. And now looking at the position they're in at the quarterback spot and the fact, and this is crazy, bro. Sam Darnold's 28. He's young still. He's soon to be 29, but he is still relatively young. And look at the deal he signed. Three years, $100 million. So basically $33 million a year.

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