EAGAN, Minn. — Over the summer, an NFL coach who previously worked with Sam Darnold suggested a few games for me to rewatch.
“Go look at 2022 in Seattle,” the coach said. “Look at 2022 in Detroit. Look at 2022 in Tampa Bay. He was carving them all up pretty good.”
Search hard enough, the coach suggested, and I would find plays, possessions and quarters that would validate the Minnesota Vikings’ decision to sign, start and believe in the 27-year-old quarterback this season.
The coach and the Vikings have been proven right.
That season against the Lions, Darnold, then a player for the Carolina Panthers, recognized a Cover 0 blitz, checked the protection and hurled a deep ball to D.J. Moore on a deep post route. A week later in Tampa Bay, Darnold dropped back on third down, progressed to a backside crossing route and drilled receiver Shi Smith for a touchdown.
SAM DARNOLD. HAVE A DAY.
📺: #CARvsTB on FOX
📱: Stream on NFL+ https://t.co/iBHCs5kpjA pic.twitter.com/t0N9OBNxdM— NFL (@NFL) January 1, 2023
Darnold threw beautiful go routes, extended plays with his legs and stood firm in the pocket. He was doing so many of the things he is doing now, but two roadblocks prevented people from noticing. The sample size was not big enough, and the Panthers were not relevant enough.
That’s where the present differs. Not only has Darnold played 12 games in 2024, learned to navigate changing defenses and dealt with the physical toll, but he has also led a 10-2 team that has needed him late in games.
“I know he’s had some good stretches,” head coach Kevin O’Connell said, “but when you add in the situations of these games … ”
Two weeks ago, the Vikings fumbled away a lead against the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field. Darnold completed all six pass attempts in overtime, and Minnesota won.
This past Sunday, the Vikings trailed the Arizona Cardinals by 13 late in the third quarter. O’Connell shifted into downfield passing mode, and Darnold led the Vikings to a comeback.
“He’s throwing the ball at an incredibly high level,” O’Connell said. “Accuracy, perfect amount of pace, layering the ball, pushing it downfield when we try to. Getting back to No. 3 or No. 4 or No. 5 in a progression. Checkdowns on weighty downs. He takes off for a gain of 6 or 7 yards. … When you stack it all up, it’s winning football.”
Through Week 13, Darnold has completed more than 67 percent of his passes for 2,952 yards and 23 touchdowns — all rank in the top 10 in the league among starting quarterbacks. According to Pro Football Focus, the only quarterbacks with more big-time throws than Darnold this season are Josh Allen and Joe Burrow. Given the Vikings’ standing in the NFC, people will continue to pay attention.
So why wouldn’t the Vikings re-sign Darnold this offseason? It’s a fair question and one that will be asked more regularly if the quarterback charts a deep playoff run. So let’s consider the context.
Think about the Vikings’ recent history. They transitioned away from veteran quarterback Kirk Cousins’ contract because the team’s decision-makers believed it’d give them a better chance to build a well-rounded roster. Unless the quarterback had the potential to be great, the thought went that it didn’t make sense to spend $40 million a year at the position because it would financially hamstring the team elsewhere.
That’s how Darnold landed here in the first place, signing a one-year, $10 million show-me contract. If (or when) the conversation about re-signing Darnold comes to pass, his turnover-worthy play rate, interception rate, sack rate, pre-snap diagnosis and post-snap processing will all be part of the discussion. Essentially, Minnesota will have to weigh the value of Darnold’s arm talent against some of the negative play limitations. J.J. McCarthy’s readiness will also be a meaningful data point.
But none of this needs to be ironed out right now. So why not enjoy a player, once cast aside, who is being celebrated by a team and a town? “There’s no other place I’d rather play,” Darnold said in front of the Minnesota faithful on Sunday.
And we’re grateful for you, Sam 💜
📺: @NFLonFOX pic.twitter.com/BiKPFrKEjG
— Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) December 1, 2024
“It felt like what Sam feels (right now) is he’s incredibly prepared, he’s confident in the guys he’s throwing to and the guys up front,” O’Connell said. “It’s a surgical level of doing his job and not trying to do too much, but also knowing his job might be to try to put a ball in a tight window here and there.”
Doing so became Darnold’s primary task in the late stages of Sunday’s game. The Vikings faced a second-and-14 in the fourth quarter. Typically in this situation, play callers, including O’Connell, hope to scoop up half of the distance to the first-down marker. In the image below, you’ll see Darnold’s anticipation of a throw past the sticks to star receiver Justin Jefferson.
“That’s maybe the most critical throw of the whole game,” O’Connell said. “He felt the void, his back foot hit and he turned it loose.”
O’Connell repeated a call from earlier in the game a few plays later. The Cardinals had been dropping a defender from the line of scrimmage into a zone near the sideline. O’Connell believed Darnold could wedge the ball up and over the defender and into receiver Jordan Addison’s hands.
In the next image, note where Addison is as Darnold is throwing the ball — and the space Darnold has to place the ball once he arcs it over the defender.
There were plenty of other throws Sunday, such as the fourth-and-7 conversion leading to the go-ahead score, or even the play when Darnold drifted away from the pass rush and tossed it in tight end T.J. Hockenson’s direction. Buried within these plays — and so many others in recent weeks — are improvisation, ball placement and detail.
This is not magic surfacing out of thin air. It’s an experienced quarterback, who had shown flashes, given a legitimate chance in an infrastructure built to maximize his greatest strengths.
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(Photo: Andy Lyons / Getty Images)
