Explaining the mystery behind resurgence of Sam Darnold, Derek Carr and Baker Mayfield
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, currently 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 this season, 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 in 2023, 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.
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“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 a successful situation, 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:
Rich Gannon: Quarterbacks need trust
Sam Darnold, Baker Mayfield, Derek Carr, all of them want what [former Philadelphia Eagles coach] Dick Vermeil gave to [quarterback] Ron Jaworski. I always go back to that NFL Films clip. It's in Philadelphia, a tough place to play. The Eagles sucked and they were booing these guys relentlessly, and Jaworski throws a pick. He comes to the sideline and Dick Vermeil puts his arm around Jaworski's waist and says, “Hey, you're my guy. I'm not going to jerk you.”
I've talked to Jaworski about that and what that meant to him. What it means to any quarterback, right? Because these kids lose their confidence. The kid in Carolina, he doesn't know if he's coming or going right now. Part of it is, once you lose the confidence it's hard to get it back.
When Denny Green jerked me around in Minnesota in '92 it really set me back. I was playing and he didn't tell me I was going to sit down. The offensive coordinator came and sat me down a couple weeks, then threw me back out there against Steve Young and the 49ers. I threw or bad pass or something, an incompletion, and I'm looking over to the sidelines like, “Am I gonna get taken out again?”
You can't play that way. Those quarterbacks that we've been talking about, they've got a guy that's put their arm around them. They've got an organization that's said to them, “Hey, you're our guy.” That means to the world to somebody who's been thrown through the wringer and discarded and kicked to the curb. It means a lot. Trust me. I've been there and I know what that feels like.
Steve Young: Find the right coach, fit
What's happened with NFL teams is there are leaders, followers and laggards. The leaders today in the NFL are the teams that are owned and coached in new, innovative ways to the truths of this new reality. The leaders are coaches like [San Francisco’s] Kyle Shanahan and [Kansas City’s] Andy Reid reinventing himself every year in new innovative ways to run an offense. It never stops. It's a beautiful place to be as a quarterback. You want to be in Kansas City. You want to be in San Francisco. You want to be with the Rams and Sean McVay.
It was vital for Sam Darnold to go to San Francisco, even in a backup role. It was the reason for this turnaround. It was him resetting, what it means to play quarterback in the league, what it looks like, what's possible — how you coach it, how you deploy it, how you call it, how you read it. He's like, "Oh, hell yes."
There were opportunities when Brock Purdy was hurt that Kyle leaned in with, “I want Sam to play quarterback. I want him doing more.” Kyle believes in Sam. He just couldn't keep him.
That's what happens when you get an innovative mind that sees somebody and goes, “Oh, yeah.” So Sam says, “Oh, yes,” and Kyle says, “Oh, yes,” and it doesn't quite work out. So Sam does the next best thing. He goes somewhere where they'll coach him in an innovative way and give him what he had in San Francisco.
There's places that are great for quarterbacks and places that are terrible for quarterbacks. There's more good places than ever before, but there's still only a handful of great places.
Kurt Warner: Tune out the noise
I'm excited for Sam's success. I love that he's in a place where they believe in him, and it sure feels like he's going to get a whole season to be able to show us and that's another good thing. That's great, because we're all going to have a bad game or two in the middle of the season. But that to me is what we need to see from Sam.
Where the other two guys [Mayfield and Carr], I'm convinced they're starting quarterbacks and they're going to be good the majority of times out, I'm not convinced of that with Sam yet even though I know he's got the physical ability to be that.
Sam's had those moments already where I've seen him play good for a stretch. I just haven't seen it for a long stretch.
He got his start in New York. People say playing there is different, and I think there's some truth to that. The more noise there is, the more things that are out there where people are talking, the more you're going to hear and the more pressure you're going to feel.
The smaller markets where they're not looking to move on, they don't have a million sports teams and they haven't always been successful ... there's more pressure to handle it the right way [in the New York market]. More voices to hear in the bigger cities. You have to be a bit of a different breed to be able to handle that and mesh all that together.
Jim Everett: Need talent on both sides
If you don't have all the dominoes in a row and they don't fall in the right way, you've got problems. You could have the best system, be the best quarterback but if you have no supporting talent, you have no system.
I like Sam Darnold a lot, always have. I think ball security is going to be his nemesis, but other than that he can make all the throws, he's a tough guy, he's blue collar. He's not above everybody. And his experience at San Francisco was invaluable because he could learn a system.
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You look at a receiver like Justin Jefferson, he's one of the best guys in the league. Then that front gives him a little bit of time, you've got a good scheme, and all of a sudden it's whoa, he's successful.
But what a lot of people overlook is he has a defense up there that's decent enough that the pressure's not always on the quarterback. People don't realize that. For instance, look at Brock Purdy in San Francisco. He doesn't have to play outside of his game. He's got a good defense that will keep him in the game.
If you have a bad defense, you start pressing as a quarterback. It's, "I need more touchdowns." Sam's not in that situation, and neither are Derek Carr and Baker Mayfield. If you have a good defense, you don't have to get too far out there on the tips of your skis. That makes a big difference.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
