Jan 17, 2026 Seattle Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold warms up prior to a game against the San Francisco 49ers. Photo Credit: Kevin Ng
The stage could not have been bigger. Sam Darnold was drafted with the third overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft by the New York Jets. He was starting as a rookie for a team playing in the biggest media market in the nation, and the opening game was on Monday Night Football in front of a national TV audience.
The stuff of dreams, right? Uh, no.
Darnold took his first NFL career snap from under center and proceeded to throw an interception that was returned for a touchdown by Detroit Lions safety Quandre Diggs. Although Darnold went on to play well in a Jets victory over Detroit, the pick-six was a harbinger of more bad things to come. During Darnold’s time in New York, the Jets had an overall record of 13-35, and he was universally considered a bust, throwing 39 interceptions during the three-year span. The Jets traded Darnold to the Carolina Panthers in 2021, where he spent two seasons marred by injuries, and the team opted not to re-sign him when his contract expired at the end of the 2022 season.
By 202,3 Darnold was now viewed around the NFL at best as a backup quarterback, and when he signed with the San Francisco 49ers, he had to beat out Trey Lance just to serve as the number two behind starter Brock Purdy. Although he would have preferred to start, Darnold has credited his time with the 49ers for helping his career. In an interview with ESPN, Darnold stated, “The biggest takeaway for me was how much I was studying off the field to be able to prepare myself to go in and play if I needed to on Sundays.”
Darnold’s next stop was with the Minnesota Vikings, where he earned the starter role after their first-round draft pick, J.J. McCarth,y suffered a season-ending injury. After six years in the NFL wilderness, Darnold finally performed at a level that was expected of him when he entered the league as a highly heralded player in the 2018 draft. Darnold earned his first Pro Bowl selection while leading the Vikings to a 14-3 record, the team’s best regular-season record in 26 years. However, Darnold played terribly in Minnesota’s playoff loss to the Los Angeles Rams, taking nine sacks and losing a fumble that was returned for a touchdown by the Rams. This came after a poor performance in Darnold’s last game of the regular season, and the Vikings decided not to re-sign him.
Darnold packed his bags again to play for his fifth NFL team when he signed with the Seattle Seahawks in 2024. In his vagabond journey around the league, Darnold really only played consistently well for one season, in 2023 with the Vikings, and even that ended poorly. As the Seahawks began stacking wins and earned the number one seed for the NFC playoffs, critics kept waiting for the other shoe to drop with Darnold returning to the poor play that contributed to the Vikings being bounced from the playoffs. It never happened. Darnold’s steady hand throughout the playoffs guided Seattle to its second Super Bowl win in team history.
Being the quarterback of a Super Bowl championship is a dream come true, but it was especially sweet for Darnold after all the adversity he faced in getting there. So, what changed for him? Honestly, nothing. Darnold just did something most people aren’t patient enough to do. He stuck with it. Darnold didn’t sulk and let all of his previous failures derail him. Instead, he used them as learning experiences to get better. In an NFL.com story, his first-year coach with the Jets, Todd Bowles, recalled Darnold’s attitude as a rookie. “He tried to do everything the right way. He never got frustrated. He always wanted to know what he could work out to get better.”
Darnold also never lost sight of the fact that he got to earn a living playing a game he loved. In the same NFL.com article, Max Browne, Darnold’s former college teammate at USC, was quoted as recalling how Darnold reacted to his poor first season with the Jets. He said that Darnold told him, “At the end of the day, I’m a starting quarterback in the NFL. Things are pretty good.”
