3 positive takeaways from Sam Darnold’s first Panthers presser

An evident relief

Sam Darnold has heard all the chat this offseason. The New York Jets were always going to move him on once they locked down the No. 2 overall selection, which is one place down from where they stood throughout most of the campaign as one-time frontrunners in the Trevor Lawrence sweepstakes.

Uncertainty is a terrible thing to have hanging over you in life. Darnold was forced to play the waiting game in recent weeks before his move to the Carolina Panthers, which brought about excitement and relief in equal measure.

"“There’s a little bit of both — relief and excitement. There’s been so much uncertainty this offseason, not knowing what your future was going to look like, that was hard. But now that I’m in Charlotte, I’m excited, and yeah, I guess I am kind of relieved to be here.”"

Now that Darnold’s future is resolved, he can now focus on turning his career around. There were far worse situations for the quarterback to end up, so it’s vital that the player makes the most out of it and leaves the Jets regretting their decision to give up on him ahead of time.

This is Darnold’s final chance to become a prominent NFL starter. He deserves the benefit of the doubt after being forced to endure Adam Gase as his head coach, but there is no more margin for error in his pursuit of reaching the ceiling expected of a top-three quarterback.