Fans were delighted to see the initial confidence that the Minnesota Vikings had for Sam Darnold and it came into fruition last Sunday as the team beat the New York Giants, 28-6. People were originally hesitant when Darnold signed with the Vikings, but it’s looking like he’s in line to have a solid season as he spoke about what has led him to perform at this level.
Before Minnesota, Darnold was with the San Francisco 49ers where he was the back up to star quarterback Brock Purdy who has emerged as one of the league’s best players at the position. Darnold would say via The Minnesota Star Tribune that he “really did learn a lot” from Purdy in his time with the 49ers.
“Being able to prepare and be ready like I was the starter, but just sit back and watch everything that was going on in the organization, how things were run there,” Darnold said. “I really did learn a ton from Brock and the way he prepared, his quiet confidence that he had every single day. He’s not the rah-rah guy, not going to lead the team in breakdowns at the end of the year, but he’s just as steady as they come.”
“Watching Brock dish the ball out to guys, especially first and second down,” Darnold continued. “If what we’re hunting up concept wise isn’t there, just to be able to check the ball down and let our guys run with it. Just understanding better the role of a quarterback.”
There is no doubt that Darnold needed to regain his confidence after being a former first-round pick for the New York Jets where it resulted in a disappointing stint.
Vikings’ Sam Darnold on what he’s learned
He would be a part of other teams such as the Carolina Panthers and San Francisco before heading to his current team where he was put into the starting spotlight, especially after the season-ending injury to Vikings rookie quarterback J.J. McCarthy. One aspect of being a signal-caller that he would hone on is being able to alleviate the pressure of being such an integral position to the game.
“When you’re at quarterback, I feel like a lot of times you can feel everything collapsing in on you,” Darnold said. “Not just in the game, but theoretically as a whole. If things aren’t going your way, you can feel the weight of the world a little bit. At the end of the day, it’s your job to just put the ball in your playmaker’s hands and let them go make a play. It’s as simple as that sometimes. For me, it’s just being able to get the ball out and into their hands and let them go run with it.”
Up next for the Vikings is the 49ers which head coach Kevin O’Connell would praise Darnold for being a “really bright guy.”
“Unless a bunch of them are going to end up being coaches like me,” O’Connell said. “Probably not often. But Sam’s a really bright guy and whatever we can get from him to help us as coaches, I’m going to try to do. But I also want to make sure we’re sensitive to his own process that he’s established.”
Minnesota looks to be 2-0 Sunday against San Francisco.
