After a disappointing first six years in the league, the former No. 3 overall draft pick resurrected his career with a breakout Pro Bowl campaign last fall. He led the Minnesota Vikings to a 14-3 regular season and five game-winning drives, while finishing fifth in the league in both passing yardage and touchdown passes.<\/p>\n
However, the luster of Darnold\u2019s breakthrough came crashing down over the final two games. With the NFC\u2019s top seed on the line in Week 18, he went just 18-of-41 passing for 166 yards in a blowout loss to the Detroit Lions. And the following week, he threw an interception, took nine sacks and lost a costly fumble during a blowout NFC wild-card playoff loss to the Los Angeles Rams.<\/p>\n
The 27-year-old Darnold is now in Seattle, where he has a chance to prove that the first 16 games of last season weren\u2019t a one-hit wonder.<\/p>\n
Will Darnold continue to rewrite his career narrative with another strong year? Or will he fall back down to earth?<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s what three NFL analysts said about Darnold during recent appearances on Seattle Sports\u2019 Bump and Stacy.<\/p>\n
\u2018We could see anything\u2019<\/p>\n
The 33rd Team\u2019s Sam Monson<\/a> thinks there\u2019s a very wide range of potential outcomes for Darnold this fall.<\/p>\n \u201cThe first 16 games of last season, Sam Darnold was (at a) Pro Bowl, borderline All-Pro level of play \u2013 a genuinely fantastic, completely different player from anything we\u2019d seen in his NFL career thus far,\u201d Monson said. \u201cAnd then the final two weeks was a complete and total disintegration and it was all the way back to Sam Darnold seeing ghosts.<\/p>\n \u201cSo we could see anything (this) year. We could see him back up to the Pro Bowl\/All-Pro-level Darnold. We could see him go completely in the tank again and be back to being the New York Jets\u2019 top pick that was ultimately cast aside and became a journeyman. Or really anything in the middle \u2013 inconsistent play week to week, or just a sort of middle ground where he\u2019s good but not great.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Back down to earth<\/p>\n The Athletic\u2019s Derrik Klassen<\/a>, who co-hosts The Athletic Football Show, doesn\u2019t think Darnold will replicate his level of play from last season.<\/p>\n Klassen pointed to the favorable situation Darnold had last year in Minnesota, where he had the benefit of an elite offensive-minded head coach in Kevin O\u2019Connell and an array of weapons that included superstar wide receiver Justin Jefferson, talented wideout Jordan Addison and two-time Pro Bowl tight end T.J. Hockenson.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s a fascinating quarterback, because we\u2019ve seen one-off seasons before,\u201d Klassen said. \u201cDo we think it\u2019s going to be the way that 2022 Geno Smith<\/a> felt, where it\u2019s actually something that he can sustain? Or is it going to be something more like Case Keenum<\/a> in 2017 with the Vikings?<\/p>\n \u201cAnd I probably lean a little bit more toward Case Keenum, unfortunately, just because I think, to me, we\u2019re coming from Sam Darnold playing in Minnesota \u2013 which was arguably one of the best supporting casts that you could possibly play with when it comes to play caller (and) having the best wide receiver in the league.<\/p>\n \u201cNow he\u2019s stepping into Seattle where, outside of the tackle duo when they\u2019re healthy, is definitely a step down in (that) you have more of a mystery at play-calling and you don\u2019t have a No. 1 receiver quite as good as Jefferson. So I would expect him to come down to earth just a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Somewhere in the middle<\/p>\n FTN Fantasy\u2019s\u00a0Aaron Schatz<\/a> doesn\u2019t think Darnold will revert all the way back to his early-career struggles, when he went 13-25 over his first three seasons as a starter with the New York Jets. And he thinks new Seahawks offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak is a decent OC for Darnold.<\/p>\n But like Klassen, Schatz thinks a less favorable supporting cast in Seattle will prevent Darnold from having another Pro Bowl-level campaign.<\/p>\n \u201cI think that we will look back and see last year as a little bit of an outlier in his career, but that he also is nowhere near as bad as he looked when he was with the Jets,\u201d Schatz said. \u201cAnd while he doesn\u2019t have the track record of Kevin O\u2019Connell as far as boosting quarterbacks, I think that Kubiak is a good offensive coordinator. What he did at the beginning of (last) year (as New Orleans\u2019 OC) before everybody got hurt for the Saints was good.<\/p>\n \u201cI think the bigger issue for Darnold is that he goes from having maybe the best receiver in the game and a very good wide receiver No. 2 and a very good tight end to, you know, some talent, but nothing like Justin Jefferson.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Listen to the full conversations with The 33rd Team\u2019s Sam Monson, The Athletic\u2019s Derrik Klassen and FTN Fantasy\u2019s Aaron Schatz in the audio players throughout this story. Tune in to Bump and Stacy weekdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app.<\/p>\n Seattle Seahawks news and analysis<\/p>\n \u2022\u00a0Rost: A potential surprise standout on Seattle Seahawks\u2019 defense<\/a>
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\u2022 Buy or Sell: Will Sam Darnold take less sacks than Geno Smith?<\/a>
\u2022\u00a0Insider: One final offseason move the Seattle Seahawks should make<\/a>
\u2022\u00a0Do Seattle Seahawks have enough in new-look WR room? Insider weighs in<\/a><\/p>\n
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