Sam Darnold's NFL Impact Over the Years: Analysis & Review

You know, Boomer, it's easy to be Monday morning quarterback on conversations like this with Sam Darnold, but are you surprised at all on what you've seen the last two years with him? I mean, if you count the playoffs, Boomer, he's 31 and 6. I mean, with two different teams, he goes to really two great organizations that know how to utilize his ability in Minnesota, and then he goes to Seattle. Hell, he was even starting that way when he was in San Francisco for that little time there with Kyle Shanahan. Are you surprised Monday morning quarterback-wise? I mean, you know, after the fact. He was here as a rookie. He was 20 years old, and they gave him the starting job, and that's insane. And of course, Jet fans and fans in general just don't have any patience anymore. Remember, Patrick Mahomes sat for a year. We all know about Aaron Rodgers sitting for three and a half years or four years, whatever it was. I mean, the position is the hardest position in all of sports to master. That's why Gino Smith, after all these years, has finally come back and has been a serviceable, accompanying quarterback. Sam, I think, finally found his calling. He went to quarterback school in San Francisco, played under Kevin O'Connell in Minnesota, which I thought was terrific. You know, Minnesota made the wrong decision. They should have never let him go, and I think it's one of the reasons why they fired the GM, because he was so in love with J.J. McCarthy. It's turned out to be an unmitigated disaster here early in his career, but it just goes to show you that, you know, if you're a good guy, keep your head down. Don't make it about yourself. Continue to learn. Be the physical presence that you were in college. Eventually, when you grow into it, you can really be a success. So I'm not going to sit here and say that I'm overly surprised, but I think he had Kevin O'Connell, and he also had Clint Kubiak as an offensive coordinator, and I think Clint's going to do a great job in Vegas, and I think this will be a real interesting year now with the new guy Cohen plays out there in Seattle, and with the loss of their running game, and they're going to be relying on rookies. We'll see a little bit more, I think, pressure on Sam to really perform and be the reason that they're winning, not the reason that, you know, he's keeping things going and they're leaning on their defense and running game as much. Boomer, I think I could ask you this question about Darnold, too, because when you're a player that's drafted into a place like Cincinnati, like the Jets, who haven't won in a lot of years, it's a lot of pressure. How tough was it for you coming out and going into that situation in Cincinnati where, hey, dude, you got beat up your first couple years there. I mean, then you had to overcome that, and then you turn out to be an MVP and you take that team to a Super Bowl. How tough are those three years for a quarterback when you are put in those untenable situations, like the Cam Ward, say, in Tennessee? You know, I was 23 when I got drafted, and I had Kenny Anderson there for two years in front of me, and I had Turk Schonert, and I had Sam Weiss, a former quarterback as a head coach. So I was in the right place at the right time, and things worked out really well for me. Sam Darnold was not in the right place at the right time. Cam Ward may not be in the right place at the right time. Jaden Daniels may not be in the right place in the right time. The guys like Jaden Daniels, CJ Stroud, Cam Ward, all these guys have immense pressure on them to perform this season. There is no question about that. And, you know, watching all three of those guys and watching them take a step back now, some of them have been injured because they, you know, they play the game differently than when the way we played or when I played. So I would say there's immense pressure on all of these guys. And, you know, Cam Ward especially because he came out and he was the number one overall pick. There were high expectations. He doesn't back down. You know, he says some really stupid comments as well, just because he's young, and this is the way young talk these days. He's got to learn to temper his negativity as well, and hopefully Brian Dable will get the best out of him, much like he got the best out of Josh Allen at Buffalo.