Jets trade Sam Darnold to the Panthers

The Sam Darnold saga has officially ended as the New York Jets traded their former No. 1 draft pick to the Carolina Panthers in exchange for a second and fourth-round pick from the 2022 NFL Draft, plus a sixth-round pick from this year's draft.

Interestingly enough, the Panthers planned to exercise Darnold’s fifth-year option. That must mean they're confident in Darnold’s ability moving forward in their system.

NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport said that Carolina was the only team interested in Darnold’s services. So, either we spent a lot of meaningless time debating Darnold to the Bay Area, or someone is lying.

As for the 49ers, you can kiss Zach Wilson goodbye if you were still holding out hope for the BYU QB. New York doesn’t make this trade unless they’re confident that Wilson would pass his physical, which was the only question left.

Teddy Bridgewater to the 49ers was something else we talked about. Not that his price was ever high, but that could be a potential backup for the 49ers rookie if they choose to deal Jimmy Garoppolo.

The Niners trade up to No. 3 affected several QB-needy teams, and Carolina was one. This tells me that the Panthers knew none of the top four quarterbacks in this draft would make it to No. 8. You have to imagine that Carolina tried to move up but was denied by each team.

The domino effect from San Francisco’s blockbuster trade will continue to play out on draft night.