How did Seattle get so lucky to get Darnold?

[Shane Falco]

I'm thinking maybe the success of those QB's from that draft out of the gate might have played a part in their decision. For their fans too that where clamoring for JJ.

In hindsight, it's easy to see the risk they took. I thought it was a risky move at the time, but also seen the logic in being able to use that money to beef up the team in other areas. But banking on a rookie QB, coming off injury to boot... that takes some very large kahuna's.

 

[nwHawk]

After the Super Bowl last year, I was talking with a friend of mine about Sam Darnold. He was saying he thought the Vikings weren’t going to re-sign him and I was saying they would be absolutely not let him go. Why in the world would they get rid of a guy who put up monster numbers last season and although didn’t finish the last few games, strong, was fantastic for most of the year? I just could not comprehend them letting him go to start McCarthy, who in essence would be a rookie quarterback, coming off of an ACL injury having never played a regular season NFL game. Well, I was wrong, but at the end was right that they were crazy to let him go. In my opinion, somebody in that organization should be fired for making such a stupid move.

Just curious if anyone here also thought the Vikings at the time should move on from Darnold and why?

I thought they were nuts to let him walk. I told my wife at last year’s Viking game that really wished that the Hawks could bump GeNO and get Sam Darnold. So, I was thrilled when it actually happened.

 

[Rat]

I think there's a bit of revisionist history with Darnold. Even BEFORE those last two games likely tanked what could have been a lucrative extension with the Vikings, any time someone on here would bring up the possibility of signing Darnold and shipping out Geno, they'd get absolutely eviscerated. If the Rams had traded Stafford and signed Darnold, the reaction around here almost certainly would have been laughter. Now, I see fans acting like this was always the obvious thing to do.

It's looking great so far, but the grade isn't complete. We knew he was capable of putting up big numbers. Let's see if he's able to keep showing out when the lights become brightest, because regardless of his circumstances last year, he was straight up abysmal those last two games vs the Lions and Rams. I don't recall moving on from him even being all that controversial at the time. It's just that way now because it's blowing up in the Vikings faces with McCarthy looking poor and not being able to stay healthy, while Darnold is tearing it up and Daniel Jones is an MVP frontrunner.

While those last few games were painful, I do think it's important that Darnold had the experience of at least being in that situation. There have been no shortage of great QBs who were considered playoff folders until suddenly they weren't anymore. Just getting his career to this stage after the disaster that was his Jets and Panthers tenures shows that he is no doubt resilient.

 

[Ostatehawk]

How many playoff games has he been in? One, and yeah it wasn’t pretty against a more talented Rams team. It happens! Last time Russ led us to the playoffs he absolutely crumbled much worse than Sam did versus the Rams.

Watch that game - it was a jailbreak on the o line all game long. You cannot blame the whole thing on Sam.

 

[SantaClaraHawk]

How many playoff games has he been in? One, and yeah it wasn’t pretty against a more talented Rams team. It happens! Last time Russ led us to the playoffs he absolutely crumbled much worse than Sam did versus the Rams.

Sam did everything to win in that game even after they replaced his offense with practice squadders. It was lost on a Jake Moody field goal.

Considering KOC’s quarterback handling of late, I wouldn’t be surprised if Sam’s success there was more in spite of him. Sam has never praised him like he does Kyle Shanahan and Brock Purdy. Sam’s now in a system run by Kubiak, which is the next best thing for him.

 

[Frank12]

Sam is a seahawk, and always has been a Seahawk it just took him a few years to get home... he's a cast off that no one gave another thought about, he's a bust that people laughed at, he's an undrafted free agent no one wanted, he fell in the draft because of this or that, He was to slow or to fat.... Sam is a SEAHAWK, and he is my QB.... love you Sam. Go out there and prove the haters wrong the seahawks way buddy..

 

[toffee]

Short version: John Schneider
Long version: John Schneider and Tom Brady

 

[Frank12]

Short version: John Schneider
Long version: John Schneider and Tom Brady

Buy Tom is soooooo smart..

 

[RehireMora]

Super thrilled to have him but the dude was a 1 year wonder at the end of last season. They had JJ with higher upside and pulled the trigger.

 

[seabowl]

Super thrilled to have him but the dude was a 1 year wonder at the end of last season. They had JJ with higher upside and pulled the trigger.

Higher upside? Sam threw 35 touchdowns and 12 interceptions on 4300 yards last year. That team was ready to win now and went with instead JJ McCarthy who had never thrown a regular season pass in the NFL and was coming off of an ACL tear. Higher upside?

 

[Jegpeg]

I was surprised the Vikings didn't keep Darnold, I assumed McCarthy had done really well in training camp and his in pre season game and they were confident he would do well. It was a risk but having a star QB on a rookie contract goes a long way to making the super bowl.

It was also a risk for us (or any other team) to get Darnold, he had performed poorly at the Jets and the Panthers so it was not clear whether we were signing the Vikings Darnold or the pre-Vikings Darnold, Darnold had a fantastic receiving corps in Minniapolis and while JSN was promising with the sale of DK and replacing him with an aging Kupp we were going into the season considered to have an average receiving corp. The talking heads and betting community expected the risk would not pay off with Vegas having us at about 7.5 wins this season.

The "big game mentality" issue is also talked about, it is true he did not play well in the two biggest games of the season, but two games is a small sample size, (and he didn't have any "must win" games before joining the Vikings as he was never in play-off contention). His worst game of the season last year was against the Jags so it the poor games against the Lions and Rams could just be the normal fluctuations in QB play.

 

[pittpnthrs]

How many playoff games has he been in? One, and yeah it wasn’t pretty against a more talented Rams team. It happens! Last time Russ led us to the playoffs he absolutely crumbled much worse than Sam did versus the Rams.

Is that the comparison you want to make? Seriously? You want to compare a Super Bowl winning QB to a guy who some claim has already proved the label of a playoff choker wrong although he's never done so? Pretty big reach wouldn't you say?

 

[pittpnthrs]

Watch that game - it was a jailbreak on the o line all game long. You cannot blame the whole thing on Sam.

Very true. Sam hung in there and did what he could.

You also can't blame Wilson for everything for that last playoff loss to the Rams that he was involved in when the game plan was so crappy. McVay was always playing chess while Pete was playing checkers.

 

[seabowl]

I was surprised the Vikings didn't keep Darnold, I assumed McCarthy had done really well in training camp and his in pre season game and they were confident he would do well. It was a risk but having a star QB on a rookie contract goes a long way to making the super bowl.

It was also a risk for us (or any other team) to get Darnold, he had performed poorly at the Jets and the Panthers so it was not clear whether we were signing the Vikings Darnold or the pre-Vikings Darnold, Darnold had a fantastic receiving corps in Minniapolis and while JSN was promising with the sale of DK and replacing him with an aging Kupp we were going into the season considered to have an average receiving corp. The talking heads and betting community expected the risk would not pay off with Vegas having us at about 7.5 wins this season.

The "big game mentality" issue is also talked about, it is true he did not play well in the two biggest games of the season, but two games is a small sample size, (and he didn't have any "must win" games before joining the Vikings as he was never in play-off contention). His worst game of the season last year was against the Jags so it the poor games against the Lions and Rams could just be the normal fluctuations in QB play.

I agree with a lot of what you say however not sure what you mean that the Vikings liked what they saw in training camp and preseason unless you meant the previous years training camp and preseason because Darnold signed with the Seahawks on March 10th well before training camp and preseason this year. Even if they did like what they saw of McCarthy last year, he was still a rookie quarterback coming off of an ACL injury out for the whole year. There’s a ton of risk going with a guy like that, especially with the offense that you have.

 

[SoulfishHawk]

Watch that game - it was a jailbreak on the o line all game long. You cannot blame the whole thing on Sam.

Yet many still do.

 

[SoulfishHawk]

Is that the comparison you want to make? Seriously? You want to compare a Super Bowl winning QB to a guy who some claim has already proved the label of a playoff choker wrong although he's never done so? Pretty big reach wouldn't you say?

Come on Pitt, you know how this plays out. Dude has been gone 4 years, and everything is his fault. Laughable, but boring.

 

[Jegpeg]

I agree with a lot of what you say however not sure what you mean that the Vikings liked what they saw in training camp and preseason unless you meant the previous years training camp and preseason because Darnold signed with the Seahawks on March 10th well before training camp and preseason this year. Even if they did like what they saw of McCarthy last year, he was still a rookie quarterback coming off of an ACL injury out for the whole year. There’s a ton of risk going with a guy like that, especially with the offense that you have.

Yes I was meaning they liked what they saw in pre season 2024. A team can gain a lot of confidence in a QB between the draft and pre-season. RW3 went from a 3rd punt as a QBOTF to a guy we were confident starting GW1. I agree it was a ton of risk which is why I was surprised they let Darnold go but that was the only logic I could think of.

 

[ivotuk]

How did we get so lucky as to have John Schneider? Since Pete left, drafting and signing FAs has made a huge jump in the success column.

 

[bileever]

I have a friend who is a Vikings fan and he sent me this link to the Vikings fan forum discussion on their regrets about losing Sam Darnold:

Darnold | Purple Pain Forums

Letting go of Darnold is starting to look like an all time blunder by this organization. We would likely be 5-1 perhaps even undefeated with Darnold this year. Does anyone honestly think we los

purplepainforums.com

The forum is called Purple Pain, and the pain is real. I couldn't help but feel bad for the Vikings fans, who it seems universally believe it was a mistake to let Sam walk.

 

[keasley45]

Watch that game - it was a jailbreak on the o line all game long. You cannot blame the whole thing on Sam.

No you cant, but he had a bad game. On a few of his sacks he had more than 3 seconds to get rid of the ball with open options. He just didn't take them and made unforced bad throws. This dude actually defends Darnold AND still says he had a bad game. And it wasn't just this game. It happened the week prior as well.

Being honest about the fact that he closed the season pretty poorly doesn't mean you think he sucks. Or that it will happen again. But right now, the way a couple of games have ended this year and the one 2 weeks ago that stayed unnecessaily close because of bad decisions he made... its not like there is clear evidence we won the jackpot. That just is what it is. Best you can do is hope he and Kubiak and keep growing together, getting better and turn the page on his past poor performances.