{"id":705415,"date":"2026-01-26T03:18:18","date_gmt":"2026-01-26T03:18:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/705415\/"},"modified":"2026-01-26T03:18:18","modified_gmt":"2026-01-26T03:18:18","slug":"how-sam-darnold-went-from-jets-to-panthers-to-49ers-to-vikings-to-seahawks-stardom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/705415\/","title":{"rendered":"How Sam Darnold went from Jets to Panthers to 49ers to Vikings to Seahawks stardom"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is the player the New York Jets<\/a> thought they were getting.<\/p>\n

It just took a while for Sam Darnold to realize the potential he had when the was the No. 3 overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft.<\/p>\n

It took Darnold stops with the Carolina Panthers<\/a>, and the San Francisco 49ers<\/a>, and the Minnesota Vikings<\/a>, and now he’s shining in the postseason for the Seattle Seahawks<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It’s certainly been quite the journey.<\/p>\n

MORE:\u00a0NFL fans want Tony Romo to ‘shut up’<\/a><\/p>\n

Why did Jets get rid of Sam Darnold?<\/p>\n

Darnold spent his first three NFL seasons with the Jets. He went 13-25.<\/p>\n

He threw 45 touchdowns but 39 interceptions, too.<\/p>\n

The Jets traded him to the Carolina Panthers in April 2021 for draft picks that never amounted to any key pieces.<\/p>\n

Why did Panthers get rid of Sam Darnold?<\/p>\n

Darnold spent two seasons in Carolina, partially competing with Baker Mayfield and never getting a full chance there, either.<\/p>\n

He went 8-9 in his starts across those two seasons, with 16 touchdowns and 16 interceptions.<\/p>\n

He became a free agent after the 2022 season.<\/p>\n

Why 49ers mattered to Sam Darnold<\/p>\n

Darnold spent one season with the 49ers after signing as a free agent in March 2023.<\/p>\n

He made just one start there, but that wasn’t the key.<\/p>\n

Instead, Darnold learned from head coach Kyle Shanahan, and it made him better.<\/p>\n

He signed with the Vikings after that season.<\/p>\n

MORE:\u00a0Drake Maye, Mike Vrabel make Patriots super again<\/a><\/p>\n

Why did Vikings get rid of Sam Darnold?<\/p>\n

The Vikings had Darnold for one season, and he went 14-3.<\/p>\n

He got the starting job with no questions asked after J.J. McCarthy was injured in the preseason and missed the rest of the year.<\/p>\n

Darnold struggled in Week 18 and the playoffs, though, and the Vikings let him go to give the job to McCarthy.<\/p>\n

Darnold signed for about $100 million with the Seahawks.<\/p>\n

With Seattle, Darnold led the Seahawks to the NFC’s No. 1 seed, and it’s clear he has grown into a top-tier QB.<\/p>\n

More NFL news:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This is the player the New York Jets thought they were getting. It just took a while for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":705416,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2075],"tags":[235,260,2567,7,6,236],"class_list":{"0":"post-705415","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-carolina-panthers","8":"tag-carolina","9":"tag-carolina-panthers","10":"tag-carolinapanthers","11":"tag-football","12":"tag-nfl","13":"tag-panthers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115959241382208497","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/705415","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=705415"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/705415\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/705416"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=705415"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=705415"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=705415"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}