Doug Gottlieb's take on wanting Sam Darnold over Lamar Jackson is ridiculous

Doug Gottlieb should never be an NFL general manager.

The FOX Sports analyst shared a truly preposterous opinion about Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson and New York Jets quarterback Sam Darnold. Gottlieb claimed he’d prefer to have Darnold over Jackson. (Gottlieb made this statement on the same day that Jackson set a new record for rushing yards for a quarterback.)

That’s right: Gottlieb wants Darnold, who is 5-8 with 15 touchdowns and 11 interceptions at 7.0 yards per attempt in 2019, over Jackson, who is 11-2 with 35 total touchdowns (28 passing, seven rushing) with six interceptions at 8.6 yards per attempt.

But let’s hear him out. Here’s a look at some of what Gottlieb said:

“I would still to this day take Sam Darnold over Lamar Jackson – it’s the long-term play… If you want to tell me that Lamar Jackson is a good long-term play then you’re going to tell me that Cam Newton was a good long-term play too. … (Lamar) is Cam without the attitude and arrogance.

OK, now you can point and laugh.

What’s funny is that Gottlieb doesn’t know he’s complimenting Jackson by comparing him to Newton. Even if Newton had an attitude problem (which he doesn’t), he was an NFL MVP. He led the Panthers to the Super Bowl. Even if he never quarterbacks his team to another win, his career can be considered a success. In fact, he is the best No. 1 overall pick this decade. You’d probably take him over Andrew Luck, who retired early after dealing with injuries of his own. (Yes, he was more of a pocket passer, and still, his body broke down at 30 years old, just like Newton — and just like Jackson’s body is supposedly going to do.)

Jackson is an even better runner than Newton. The Ravens quarterback seems to be coming along as a passer. Darnold, meanwhile, has been unable to elevate his play. Admittedly, the Jets are a bad team — Adam Gase appears to be a bad coach. But Darnold seems destined to go the way of Josh McCown rather than Peyton Manning.

For good measure, Gottlieb threw in unflattering comparison for Jackson: RG3. While it’s impossible to say whether Jackson will suffer a career-altering injury, it’s hard to imagine Jackson following in the way of a unprecedented rise and fall, like Robert Griffin. (And as mentioned, those injuries can happen to pocket passers like Luck.)

More from Gottlieb:

“You have to be mobile but you also have to be able to throw and complete passes. He can do it on multiple platforms but he never throws outside the numbers.”

To refute this idea, I’m going to show — not tell — that Gottlieb is wrong.

Looks like he can target the perimeter just fine. Here’s more from Gottlieb:

“Unless they change the rules to where they can’t hit you outside of the pocket, they’re going to catch you and hit you. Cam was the biggest, strongest, and most athletic quarterback we’ve ever seen and his body broke down at 30. We’re supposed to expect Lamar’s to be different?”

So Jackson looks likely to win an MVP in 2019, and the Ravens are the No. 1 seed in the AFC. Surely, he’ll regress. The brightest stars tend to fall off slightly. (Newton and Patrick Mahomes did.) But 10 years of Jackson, the most electric player in the NFL, is a much clearer plan than 10 years of Darnold, a ho-hum prospect who seems in arrested development.

Gottlieb got me. He delivered a take that was so bad that I couldn’t help but write about it. And while that’s his intention — because it gets people talking about him — he needed some reprimanding for his thoughtless and lazy take.