Josh McCown still hopes to start but embraces mentoring Sam Darnold

Josh McCown isn't going to hand the starting quarterback job to Sam Darnold, but he's more than willing to get the New York Jets' top draft pick ready to play.

In comments made to the New York media on Friday, McCown cited how young Darnold is, a point he noted on Twitter Friday when he posted a text exchange with his daughter, Bridget, who noted the 20-year-old former USC quarterback is less than a year older than she is.

"It's a journey," McCown told the New York Post in a telephone interview. "I think that's the key for everybody, is just to pace ourselves with his development. I think the skills are there. It's just going about the right way to bring them out the best as possible. I know the expectations are high, but we still have to understand that this is a young kid. He's still learning a lot about the game. As polished as he is, there are still things he's going to have to learn as he goes through it. We just have to do everything we can to make the situation as comfortable as possible for him to find success."

McCown, who will be 39 in July, started 13 games last season for the Jets before his season was ended by a broken hand. Before the injury, he was enjoying a career season, posting career highs in passing yards (2,926), touchdown passes (18), completion percentage (67.3) and rushing touchdowns (5). He told the New York Daily News that he's going to training camp with the "mindset" that he is trying to win the starting job.

"If I wasn't interested in competing and trying to still improve as a player and get the best out of myself as I could, I wouldn't have come back. It wouldn't have made any sense to come back. I'm there for the team to do that," he told the newspaper in a telephone interview. "That's the best thing I can do for Sam ... to give everything I got to the Jets as a player and show him the things that I've done that I believe helped me be successful and the things I believe can help him to be ready to go."

"The best thing I can do is look back in five years and Sam Darnold is in the Pro Bowl," McCown added to the Daily News.

McCown said he studied tape of Darnold before the draft and was impressed by his ability to make plays outside the pocket and throwing on the run.

"At this level, plays happen off schedule all the time. That's definitely an asset. I look forward to working with him. He's an exciting player. He's talented and he can do pretty much everything in different offenses. He can make all the throws and do the things you ask a quarterback to do. The playmaking ability is an elite trait, and that's why you pick a guy as soon as we did. That's exciting," he told the Post.