Eagles vs. Jets: Will Sam Darnold actually play on Sunday?

Will the New York Jets play their starting quarterback, Sam Darnold, against the Eagles this week?

Last month, the New York Jets suffered one of their most significant losses of the season when their franchise quarterback, Sam Darnold, suddenly came up with a sickness. At the time, Darnold would be ruled out indefinitely, and re-evaluated during the fifth week of the season.

Well, here we are in week five, and Darnold has been able to return to the team’s practice facility as they gear up for a game with the Philadelphia Eagles. Now the big question is; will he actually play? At first, it felt like a long shot considering he was just being re-evaluated this week.

However, it seems like the Jets are seriously considering allowing Darnold to play if doctors say he is okay on Friday. Due to Darnold’s case of mono, he’s been dealing with an enlarged spleen. And shockingly, he was told that if he played in his current condition and took a hit to where his spleen is, he could actually die. No, that’s not a joke — he seriously said that on Thursday.

As of early Friday morning, it still hasn’t been confirmed whether Darnold will play or not on Sunday. You would think any team that has a slim chance of making the playoffs would hold off on rushing their franchise quarterback out onto the field in a situation like this — but then again, we are discussing the Jets here.

Obviously, the best-case scenario for the Eagles would be to play against the Jets’ third-string quarterback, Luke Falk. With Falk in over Darnold, that should pretty much guarantee an Eagles win. Either way, though, the Eagles should be able to seal a win with or without Darnold on the field. On paper, this game looks like a blowout. Now it’s time to find out if the Eagles can start beating the teams they should win against by a large margin. Just like they did during their Super Bowl run.