We are seeing an entirely different Sam Darnold as he is playing better with the Panthers than how he did with the Jets. Things are looking better for the 4th-year QB, as he has now won more games with the Panthers this season than last season with the Jets.
While he isn’t much of a franchise QB, he is showing more than enough to show that the prior evaluations of him were way off.
He is looking more of a serviceable NFL starter now that he has talent around him—Christian McCaffrey, DJ Moore, Robby Anderson, Tommy Tremble, and Terrace Marshall Jr., to name a few. But he still has a long way to go before he can be considered as “the next Ryan Tannehill.”
When Darnold was drafted by the Jets, he entered a system that is entirely in shambles, with substandard production and receiving options, so they couldn’t get anything going. The Jets have long been a team where QBs’ careers go to die, and this was the case again. Now, Zach Wilson is inheriting all the bad that Darnold had there, so it’s more to do with QBs playing with the Jets being in an unwinnable spot. In the case of Wilson, we might not know the full answer.
The biggest difference in Darnold is his play style. Before the Panthers’ Thursday Night game against the Texans, he has attempted 33 short (0-9 yard) throws. In the course of a 17-game NFL season, that would be on pace for 280 short-yardage throw attempts, which would be 128 more than what he attempted in 2020 (152).
Another difference is that his interception rate dropped from 3.16% in his first three seasons with the Jets to 0.9% in his first three games with the Panthers.
Another big positive is Darnold’s insistence and persistence on taking what a defense would give him. This is a huge difference from his hero ball tendencies he showed back with the Jets. In the end, there isn’t anything wrong with letting your playmakers make the plays.
The change in scenery is what matters, even for a young QB. He didn’t have a legit supporting cast around him in New York, whether it be on the field or with the coaches.
Offensively, OC Joe Brady is one of the league’s brightest minds, and has interviewed for head coaching jobs with the Eagles, Texans, and Chargers in the offseason. While the vacancies were filled by Nick Sirianni, David Culley, and Brandon Staley, respectively, Brady has got the opportunity to turn Darnold’s career around, a staple of his resume and take him to the top of the coaching candidates next season. His coaching and his scheming have helped Darnold.
Darnold is in his 4th season as a starting QB in the NFL, and even if it is a good thing or a bad thing, experience in the NFL is what matters. With a renewed focus on toning down improvisation outside the pocket within the structure, Darnold has corrected most of his errors that he made in his past three seasons. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t have a tendency to turn the ball over with some questionable plays.
All in all, Darnold has enough value to be a solid starter in the NFL. And all the narratives about him being a bust were thrown out the window. The comparisons of him and becoming the “next Ryan Tannehill” are still early, but things are looking promising. The Panthers hope that it stays that way for the rest of the season.
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