Jets quarterback Sam Darnold isn’t far off from Saints legend Drew Brees.

Sounds crazy, right?

But former NFL quarterback Trent Dilfer believes Darnold isn’t many plays away from being one of the league’s top quarterbacks. It all comes down to better decision making. That is Dilfer’s biggest takeaway from Darnold’s uneven second season.

“He’s a playmaker,” Dilfer told NJ Advance Media. “He’s going to do some cool stuff. But six, seven times a game, he’s got to turn down cool for smart. It’s really that much — a handful of plays. It’s not 15 plays.

"It’s a handful of plays that separates a Drew Brees from a Sam Darnold, when it comes to the final productivity line. Sam can make all the plays Drew makes. But Drew makes six smarter ones in the course of a game.”

Dilfer — a Super Bowl winner and former ESPN analyst — is currently promoting Panini’s Super Bowl kid reporter experience. Kids can enter for the chance to shadow Dilfer and interview players at Super Bowl media night.

Darnold didn’t really make a big leap in 2019, his first season under coach Adam Gase. Darnold has 17 touchdowns, 12 interceptions, and an 84.3 quarterback rating — compared to 17 touchdowns, 15 picks, and a 77.6 rating last season. Darnold has the NFL’s sixth-highest interception rate this season. He ranks 24th in quarterback rating.

“I think he hasn’t taken the next step, in the sense that he hasn’t fixed what plagued him in college,” Dilfer said. “What plagued him in college was kind of the Superman complex. [Young quarterbacks] think they can make every play. Their brains write checks their bodies can’t cash.”

For Darnold next season, “discernment has to take over,” Dilfer said. “I’m Sam’s biggest fan, but I was disappointed that he’s still making these poor decisions, trying to make the heroic play instead of the smart play. That’s the No. 1 focus for him this offseason: The one box you haven’t checked off yet is discretion over being a hero."

Dilfer thinks the Jets are wise to retain Gase for 2020, rather than giving Darnold a third new coach in three NFL seasons — even though Dilfer isn’t completely sold on Gase.

“I was skeptical early on,” Dilfer said of Gase’s ability to mold Darnold. "I saw enough at the end of the year where it seems like it got better. I wouldn’t want to see that thing turned upside down this year. A lot of times when these head coaching discussions come up, I always look at: OK, what will that do to the quarterback’s development?

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“Even if [the coach] is not the best, is it best to keep them, because it’s one more year for the quarterback to develop? I would put [the Jets] in that bucket. I don’t know if Adam Gase is the best fit in New York. But as soon as that [coaching] messaging is changed, when your quarterback is getting ready to go into Year 3, it really can set back a quarterback."

NFL analyst Darryl Slater may be reached at dslater@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @DarrylSlater.