Is Darnold an elite QB?
By: Jake Rajala
Sam Darnold was considered a bust for most of his career. Well, he surprised everybody and dazzled for the Minnesota Vikings last season. He unleashed 4,319 passing yards, which was fifth in the league. He also showcased 35 touchdowns, which was also fifth in the league. He was also able to put up those numbers with only 12 ints, which is okay. He wasn’t like Baker Mayfield, who threw 16 ints. This means it is worth pondering whether Darnold is an elite QB or not.
The Minnesota Vikings chose to roll with J.J. McCarthy, despite the production from Darnold. Well, Darnold has proven that he is not a game manager in the off-season thus far. He has been consistent with short passes and impressive with deep throws. Darnold was 4/4 with 34 passing yards last night.
Darnold has an impressive play-caller in Klint Kubiak. He will give Darnold screens, play-action passes in open space. People may say he will struggle without Kevin O’Connell. That is simply not the case.
With that all said, I’m still not ready to peg Darnold as an elite QB. He was blown out of the water by the LA Rams in the playoffs. His offense only put up 9 points. Yes, you read that correctly.
We’ve witnessed prolific seasons by Nick Foles RG3. This doesn’t make Foles or RG3 an elite QB. I need to see more consistency and the ability to handle adversity by dominating in a new scheme!
I would say that Darnold is between a Top-10 and Top-15 QB, but I’m not going to place him in the Top-10 QB group. PFF ranked Darnold as the 26th best QB. Hence, I’m being very generous by slotting him where I put him.
I believe that Darnold will prove his haters wrong. He has too much arm talent and a quality system to return to his old ways.
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