Sam Darnold acknowledges Jets didn’t fail him: ‘I could’ve played better’

Sam Darnold acknowledges Jets didn’t fail him: ‘I could’ve played better’

Minnesota Vikings quarterback Sam Darnold has been a feel-good story to start the 2024 season.

He has been playing out of his mind! He leads the NFL in passing touchdowns with 11 and in passer rating at 118.9. Darnold has led Minnesota to a 4-0 start, when most people expected them to be bad this year.

In other words, he is playing the way the Jets had hoped he would when they drafted him No. 3 overall in 2018. Darnold was asked this week if his old team “failed him.” Here’s how he responded:

“No, I had a lot of opportunities in New York and I always felt like I could have played better there,” he said.

Sam Darnold: Jets didn't fail me, I had a lot of opportunities. https://t.co/t1GrLDuMfp

— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) October 3, 2024

Sam Was Mediocre To Subpar In New York

Darnold is not wrong. The Jets gave him three full years as the starter to prove his worth, and time and time again, he let them down. His last season with the team, 2020, was his worst statistically, throwing for just 2,208 yards with nine touchdowns and 11 interceptions.

His next stop would be Carolina, where he was pretty “meh” in his two seasons with the Panthers. He also didn’t show much improvement in his lone start with the 49ers last year. This is why his stellar start to the year has come as such a shock to pretty much every fan of the NFL.

Darnold is set to face his old team this Sunday as the Vikings will play the Aaron Rodgers-led Jets across the Pond in London, England. Oddsmakers favor the Vikings against the Jets, so Darnold might leave Jets fans feeling like they should have given him more time to develop.

2024 NFL Season: Week 4 Overreactions

It seems unlikely that Sam Darnold and the Vikings, as a whole, can keep up this pace of play. While they haven’t given us a reason to doubt them yet, and if they can, they might be SKOLing all the way to the Super Bowl.

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