It’s far too early to say Minnesota Vikings quarterback Sam Darnold has redefined his NFL career, but after a 2-0 start — including an upset of San Francisco last Sunday — the onetime USC star is definitely on a different trajectory.
Darnold, once the third overall pick of the New York Jets, has struggled to find his comfort zone since being drafted in 2018. He bounced from the Jets to Carolina to the 49ers, and finally this season to the Vikings, the only undefeated team in the NFC North.
“It’s awesome to be able to have a coach and staff that believes in you,” Darnold said, referring to Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell. “But he doesn’t just believe in me, he believes in the entire team and the entire offense to be able to go out there and execute.”
It’s a small sample size, and the Vikings will get another test Sunday against the 2-0 Houston Texans, but it’s an encouraging start for Darnold. True, he got off to a 3-0 start with the Panthers in 2021 before going 1-8 in the remainder of his starts. This feels different.
“We feel in our offense with the players around Sam can lead to him having a lot of success,” O’Connell told reporters this week. “The vision for him started before he got here and really has been something we have worked towards every single day.”
Darnold is among a handful of quarterbacks refashioning their reputations, including Tampa Bay’s Baker Mayfield and New Orleans’ Derek Carr, both of whom are likewise undefeated.
The Seattle Seahawks are 2-0 too, with Geno Smith at the helm, a quarterback already in the midst of rewriting his story after a wobbly career start with the Jets.
There’s no position in football more tumultuous and temperamental. Carolina’s Bryce Young, the No. 1 overall pick last year, was reminded of that this week when the Panthers benched him.
Mayfield, also a former No. 1 selection, understands that as well as anyone. He played for Cleveland, Carolina and the Rams before signing with Tampa Bay last season.
“Quarterback’s hard, especially for young guys when you’re not surrounded with the pieces, not given the opportunity to have success,” he told reporters this week. “A lot of the time the guys have the talent, they might have the brains, but they don’t have the right opportunity, the right fit.
“I’m sitting here right now in a way better fit than the other places I’ve been. That’s not to put other teams down. It’s a matter of the pieces around you, the coaches and for Bryce, a guy who — and I can relate to this — finding that belief within yourself again, he’ll get it. His story’s far, far from finished.”
For more perspective on the ingredients that help make for success, and more insights on Darnold, I reached out to retired quarterbacks Rich Gannon, Steve Young, Kurt Warner and Jim Everett for their thoughts.
Here, in their words:
