Things looked so promising for Sam Darnold once upon a time. But the NFL is a fickle place to ply your trade.
The former Carolina Panthers quarterback galvanized his career after an underwhelming stint in Charlotte. He looked down and out with no chance of being a starter again. But learning on the sidelines with the San Francisco 49ers and a little bit of good fortune saw another opportunity emerge with the Minnesota Vikings.
Darnold took it and thrived, guiding the Vikings to 14 wins and looking like the signal-caller many thought possible coming out of USC. However, losing at the Detroit Lions in Week 18 meant Minnesota had to go on the road in the postseason.
The Los Angeles Rams overwhelmed Darnold on Monday Night Football. They sacked him nine times and forced him into countless errors. The Vikings were soundly beaten en route to another early postseason exit. It's also thrown his future into significant doubt.
Former Carolina Panthers QB Sam Darnold's future is under a cloud
Most analysts thought the Vikings would end up paying Darnold despite the presence of first-round pick J.J. McCarthy. That doesn't seem feasible now, but head coach Kevin O'Connell went to bat for the former first-round pick — even though things didn't end the way he wanted.
"I just want to say it’s very important we all think about Sam’s body of work, what he was able to do this year, when not many people thought he would be able to lead a team to 14 wins. It did not work out in the end, and I think Sam would be the first one to tell you, could he have played better tonight? I’m sure he would tell you he could have. Could I have coached better? I’m positive I could have."Kevin O'Connell via Pro Football Talk
These two duds when the stakes were highest won't go unnoticed by other teams around the league. They'll be hesitant to give Darnold a lucrative contract for fear of it blowing up in their face. O'Connell wants his full body of work to be assessed, but getting it done in crunch time is all that matters.
There's been far more good than bad where Darnold is concerned this season. He's looked more confident and benefitted enormously from having the right weapons in the passing game to thrive. When the pressure mounted, he reverted to type.
That's going to cost him millions. It sounds harsh, but the NFL is a business above all else.
Someone will take a chance on Darnold. This isn't a great quarterback draft class, so there should be interest once the Vikings let him test the market. But any hopes the signal-caller had of getting a massive deal could be gone.
The NFL is a what have you done for me lately league. Darnold's regular season was a step in the right direction, but he couldn't get the job done when it counted. A once-promising future in 2025 is now firmly under a cloud.
It'll be interesting to see how things play out with Darnold. But collapsing at the worst possible time doesn't exactly bode well.