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Sam Darnold, pictured after the Vikings’ win over the San Francisco 49ers earlier this season, is enjoying the best form of his career.Photograph: Bruce Kluckhohn/AP
Not long ago, it looked like Sam Darnold’s days in the NFL were numbered. The No 3 overall pick in 2018 by the New York Jets had bounced around teams over the past few years and was set to be a backup this fall to the Minnesota Vikings’ first-round draft pick, JJ McCarthy. A preseason knee injury for McCarthy pressed Darnold into action, though, and the veteran has made the most of the chance. In a 34-7 romp over the Houston Texans on Sunday, Darnold completed 17 of his 28 passes, only getting 181 yards through the air but avoiding interceptions and firing four touchdowns to four different receivers. Darnold has been one of the league’s most efficient quarterbacks in all three weeks this season, and the Vikings are 3-0.
Darnold was a college star at Southern California, but his NFL career had mostly been cascading disappointment. If Darnold had never gotten on the field this year, it’s possible that the defining image of his career would have been an ESPN graphic from the time he got mononucleosis in 2019, or perhaps another moment that season when a hot mic caught Darnold becoming so befuddled by the New England Patriots defense that he said he was “seeing ghosts”. For an early draft pick, Darnold had become a sideshow. Until now.
Darnold is still far from a top-tier quarterback, but after three starts this season we have enough of a sample size to believe his turnaround is probably real. He’s been one of the league’s best passers by completion percentage over expectation, according to the NFL’s Next Gen Stats. Vikings head coach and playcaller Kevin O’Connell has turned him loose, letting Darnold hang on to the ball while receivers run their routes and then fire the ball downfield. (At 3.03 seconds of average time to throw, Darnold is one of the most patient passers in football…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/sam-darnold-renaissance-offers-hope-071031725.html
Author : The Guardian
Publish date : 2024-09-23 07:10:31
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