approached<\/a> by a fan who explained he had supported the New York Jets for 16 years and had remained loyal when the franchise selected Darnold in the 2018 NFL Draft.<\/p>\nThe fan showed a photo of his old Jets jersey as proof of that long-term commitment, before revealing a second image of himself holding a Seattle Seahawks jersey with Darnold\u2019s name on the back.<\/p>\n
He then asked for something unusual, requesting Darnold\u2019s blessing to abandon his Jets fandom and instead support Darnold and the Seahawks going forward.<\/p>\n
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Darnold responded by welcoming the support and making it clear that anyone who wanted to follow his journey was welcome to become a Seahawks fan.<\/p>\n
The exchange quickly resonated online as a symbolic moment for fans who have followed his uneven career arc.<\/p>\n
Why Darnold\u2019s Jets tenure still shapes the reaction<\/p>\n
Sam Darnold\u2019s years with the New York Jets were defined by unmet expectations and mounting frustration after he was drafted third overall in 2018.<\/p>\n
Viewed as a franchise quarterback, he struggled through three seasons marked by inconsistency, turnovers, and organisational instability.<\/p>\n
The Jets failed to build a stable environment around him, cycling through coaching changes and offensive systems while rarely providing reliable protection or weapons.<\/p>\n
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By the time Darnold left New York, his tenure was widely viewed as a disappointment, even by fans who had once believed he could change the franchise.<\/p>\n
As Darnold prepares for the Super Bowl, his story serves as a reflection point for Jets fans, forcing them to reckon with past expectations, present reality, and the complicated nature of loyalty in modern sports.<\/p>\n
Read more:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sam Darnold\u2019s Super Bowl run has reopened some old wounds for New York Jets fans, while also offering…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":726705,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2051],"tags":[7,226,1917,255,2321,2097,6,1878,261,104362],"class_list":{"0":"post-726704","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-jets","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-jets","10":"tag-new-york","11":"tag-new-york-jets","12":"tag-newyork","13":"tag-newyorkjets","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-sam-darnold","16":"tag-seattle-seahawks","17":"tag-time-in-new-york"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116007795870424033","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/726704","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=726704"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/726704\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/726705"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=726704"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=726704"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=726704"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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