At the 2018 NFL Draft, the first two quarterbacks selected were Baker Mayfield by the Cleveland Browns and Sam Darnold by the New York Jets.
Mayfield was a firecracker. A brash, confident, exciting gunslinger who would take a big hit if it meant his team could get a couple more inches to the goal line. In Cleveland, however, he helped the team make it to the playoffs and seemed to be the one to extinguish the franchise’s curse with quarterbacks. But as quickly as he lifted to a cult of personality, he was just as quickly torn down and sent packing.
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Darnold was more subdued, quiet. A man coming from Hollywood at USC who let his actions and arm do the talking. After a brief stint of success in New York, he began seeing ghosts on the sidelines of past failed Jets quarterbacks and wilted, thrown to the scrap heap in Carolina alongside Mayfield.
On Sunday, though, the two stood on the field against each other, free from the chains of Carolina or Cleveland or New York, dueling each other in one of the best games of the year. Darnold, coming over from a career year with the Vikings, is now confident in his role as Seattle’s quarterback of the present and future. Mayfield, who has turned a one-year excursion in Tampa Bay into a city where his name might be honored with the organization’s finest.
It was a battle of the 2018 quarterbacks with their trusty weapons from Ohio State leading the charge. Darnold threw for four touchdowns and 341 yards. His top receiver, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, shone with 132 yards on his own with a touchdown, establishing himself as the undisputed WR1 of the team with the offseason departure of DK Metcalf. Mayfield took up the challenge and then some, answering back to every Darnold throw and touchdown, throwing for 379 yards and connecting with the rookie Emeka Egbuka on 7/7 targets.
As time ran down in the fourth with the teams tied, Darnold searched for his first signature win with the Seahawks, but saw his attempt at threading the needle to Cooper Kupp get picked off. Mayfield, forever the showman, took care of the rest, getting the necessary yards to set up for the winning field goal as time expired.
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On the day, like the 2018 draft, Mayfield came out the victor. But with Seattle sitting at a respectable 3-2 and looking more comfortable with Darnold as the weeks go by, don’t be too surprised if this is a preview of a wild-card or divisional matchup come January.
This article originally appeared on Touchdown Wire: Baker Mayfield outduels Sam Darnold in 2018 NFL Draft rivalry shootout