Sam Darnold is on the precipice of rewriting his NFL reputation.
This season, the quarterback led the Minnesota Vikings to a 14-3 record. The team fell just short of claiming the top seed in the NFC — and the bye that comes with it — and will face the Los Angeles Rams Monday in the Wild Card round of the NFL playoffs.
Darnold was one of the top quarterbacks in the NFL in 2024, finishing the regular season with the fifth most passing yards (4,319) and touchdowns (35).
But it’s been a rocky road to NFL glory for Darnold over the past seven years.
Darnold was quickly labeled a bust after being drafted No. 3 overall by the New York Jets in 2018, and he struggled to find success in the NFL, bouncing around to three different teams since being traded from New York.
Here’s a timeline of Darnold’s journey from bust to backup to Pro Bowl quarterback.
Sam Darnold’s NFL career
April 26, 2018: New York Jets draft Darnold out of USC with the third overall pick in the 2018 NFL draft.
Aug. 29, 2018: Jets name Darnold the Week 1 starter.
Sept. 10, 2018: Darnold makes his first NFL regular season start. He throws a Pick-6 on his first pass of the game but then rebounds to complete 80% of his passes and throw for 198 yards and two touchdowns. The Jets beat the Lions 48-17.
Dec. 23, 2018: Darnold has his best game yet, throwing for 341 yards, three touchdowns and zero interceptions.
Darnold finishes his rookie season with 2,865 passing yards, 17 touchdowns and 15 interceptions. He missed three games in the season due to injury.
2019 season: Darnold misses three games early in the season after getting mononucleosis.
Oct. 13, 2019: Darnold returns and throws for 338 yards, two touchdowns and an interception, earning the AFC Offensive Player of the Week award.
Oct. 21, 2024: Darnold’s play takes a nosedive against the New England Patriots, when he throws for just 86 yards and four interceptions. The Jets quarterback was mic’d up for the game and was caught saying he was “seeing ghosts.”
Darnold finishes the 2019 season with 3,024 passing yards, 19 touchdowns and 13 interceptions.
2020: Darnold’s interception and injury problems increase. He misses four games due to a shoulder injury. Week 13 is the first time in the 2020 season when Darnold throws more touchdowns than interceptions in a single game.
He finishes the season with a disappointing 2,208 yards, nine touchdowns and 11 interceptions.
April 5, 2021: Jets trade Darnold to the Carolina Panthers. The Panthers exercise his fifth-year option later that month.
Darnold appears to improve early in the season before reverting back to throwing more interceptions than touchdowns starting in Week 5.
It took until the final game of the season to break that streak — he missed five games in the middle of the season.
Aug. 22, 2022: Darnold is named the Panthers backup in favor of Baker Mayfield.
Nov. 27, 2022: Darnold takes over as the starter. He goes on to throw a touchdown and zero interceptions in each of the next four games.
Jan. 8, 2023: Coming off his best game of the season in which he threw for three touchdowns, one interception and 341 yards, Darnold falters in the season finale. He only musters 43 passing yards and throws two picks.
March 16, 2023: As a free agent, Darnold signs with the San Francisco 49ers on a one-year deal.
The former first-round pick serves as the backup to “Mr. Irrelevant” from the 2022 NFL draft, Brock Purdy. Darnold only enters games in garbage time.
Jan. 1, 2024: The 49ers rest Purdy ahead of the playoffs and start Darnold, who throws for 189 yards and a touchdown.
March 13, 2024: Darnold signs a one-year deal with the Minnesota Vikings.
Aug. 8, 2024: Vikings name Darnold the Week 1 starter after first round pick JJ McCarthy suffers a season-ending injury in the preseason.
Darnold leads the Vikings to a perfect 5-0 start to the season — including a four touchdown and zero interception performance in Week 3 – before Minnesota loses two consecutive games.
Darnold then rights the ship and continues his tear. The Viking don’t lose again until the regular season finale against the Lions.
Darnold’s best game of the season comes in Week 14 when he threw for 347 yards, five touchdowns and zero interceptions and finished with a 157.9 passer rating, which is a Vikings franchise record, per the team’s media. He earn NFC Offensive Player of the Week honors for his performance.
“That’s special. That’s something that can’t really be taught. That’s something that’s Sam,” Vikings receiver Justin Jefferson told the team’s media after the game. “To do what he has been doing for this season, and especially today, it’s unbelievable.”
Jan. 2, 2025: After helping the Vikings clinch a playoff berth, Darnold is named to the Pro Bowl alongside NFC quarterbacks Jared Goff and Jayden Daniels.
“I’m just so proud of him,” head coach Kevin O’Connell told Pro Football Talk in December. “He’s walking a little different. He’s got a little bit of that swagger to him like all that hard work is making him feel like he’s in a position to continue to play well and that’s the expectation with how he’s performed this year.”
Can Zach Wilson replicate Sam Darnold’s path to NFL success?
Darnold’s career resurgence begs a question about Zach Wilson, who was also a top three draft pick by the New York Jets.
Will Wilson also eventually flourish in a starting role?
Having led the Denver Broncos to the playoffs, first round pick Bo Nix appears to have cemented his role as the franchise quarterback, so Wilson will likely have to move on if he wants to be a starter again.
Darnold has done what former BYU star and NFL legend Steve Young said Wilson needed to do in January 2024. During an appearance on “The Adam Schefter Podcast,” Young discussed how Wilson can overcome the early bumps in his NFL career by going to a team with an innovative coach, as the Deseret News previously reported.
“There’s these innovative minds taking advantage of the rule changes,” Young said. “(Wilson) needs to get to one of those spots. He needs to join forces (with them). If we’re going to see anything out of Zach Wilson into the future, he needs to get away from these places that are not quarterback friendly.”
Young considered the 49ers, Rams, Kansas City Chiefs, Miami Dolphins, Vikings, Green Bay Packers, Philadelphia Eagles and Baltimore Ravens as the teams with “innovative minds.”
“It’s like 1 in 5 chances that you get to a team that can actually get the full measure of yourself. He needs to find that space. He needs to get there,” Young said.
This season, Darnold has shown what can happen when a quarterback lands on a team that can “get the full measure of yourself,” as Young described.
Only time will tell if Wilson has the opportunity to do the same.