Clayton: The Sam Darnold trade has a major impact on the Broncos plans

Another quarterback bomb dropped on Monday. The New York Jets traded quarterback Sam Darnold to the Carolina Panthers.

What was amazing about the deal was the cost. The Panthers only had to give up a sixth-round pick this year along with second- and fourth-round picks next year. I thought Darold might only draw a third-round pick this year and maybe a third-round pick that could upgrade to a No. 2 or No. 1 next year depending on how he will play.

The trade has a big impact on the Denver Broncos, the New England Patriots and San Francisco 49ers. Trading Darnold pretty will indicates the Jets are taking Zach Wilson from BYU with the second pick in the draft. The Jets wouldn’t trade a quarterback if they didn’t have one to replace him.

The Broncos lost another chance to get a veteran quarterback to compete against Drew Lock. The Broncos probably didn’t want to give up two good picks this year, but only giving up a sixth-round pick for this year is a steal.

Clearly, the Jets realized they were giving up a quarterback at a discount prize. Why a sixth-round pick? The team that was going to trade for him was probably not putting the fifth-year option on him. He then would be a free agent next year.

The 49ers are affected because they gave up two future first-round picks to move to the third pick and now they will most likely draft Trey Lance and develop him behind Jimmy Garoppolo. The 49ers are deciding between Lance and Mac Jones.

If the 49ers could’ve get a first-round pick for Jimmy G, they might have traded him to New England. That seems less likely now, but we’ll see if the Patriots, who have the 15th pick in the draft, will make a move. If they can’t get one of the five first-round picks who will be quarterback, they may have to give up a No. 1 for Garoppolo.

Jones is more ready to play in his first year than Lance, who had only one start last year and 17 during his college career. So it’ll be interesting to see what the 49ers decide to do with the third-overall pick.

Getting Darnold could mean the Panthers might let Teddy Bridgewater go. That could be an option for the Broncos. So could Gardner Minshaw or Alex Smith.

But the list of quarterback moves had a major change on Monday. The NFL landscape is always shifting.