Jets GM says Darnold will get chance to start

General manager Mike Maccagnan of the New York Jets indicated on Wednesday that Sam Darnold, the No. 3 pick in last week's NFL Draft, will compete with incumbent Josh McCown for the starting quarterback job this season.

Maccagnan was appearing on the Rick Eisen Show on NFL Now and after an early discussion about the Jets' plans for Darnold, Eisen asked point-blank if the former USC star would be given a chance to be the opening game starter.

"Nothing's been predetermined one way or another," Maccagnan said. "There's a chance for anything on the table. Nothing's been sort of set in stone in terms of how we're going to do this in terms of a firm time frame.

"But he's going to have every opportunity and we'll see how it develops going forward."

Earlier on the show, Maccagnan said: "We're going to basically expose him to everything. We're going to give him the opportunity to go out there (and learn) the position. But of course our focus is not necessarily to throw him into the fire until he's earned it.

"But we're very excited about him and his upside potential. ... He's going to have every opportunity to go out there and hopefully fulfill every potential we see in him."

The Jets were pleased with the performance of McCown, 38, last season, even though he compiled only a 5-8 record as a starter before sustaining a broken left hand in December that knocked him out for the rest of the season.

McCown completed 67.8 percent of his passes for 18 touchdowns, with nine interceptions.