In 2018, one of the best quarterback draft classes entered the NFL, and for six years, Sam Darnold was not one of them. Well, it may be time to reverse that thinking, given what he has done over the last two years and where and what he is doing now.
Darnold is on the precipice of winning a Super Bowl, which is still a bit of a shocking reality to buy into. Yet, here we are, and here are the Seattle Seahawks, who were not expected to be a great team this year before the season began, never mind a playoff team.
The Seahawks have changed everyone's minds, though, and that includes Darnold, who literally started from the bottom — stayed there for a while — and now he's here. But what's incredible about Darnold's place in the NFL right now is who's not here, or, better said, who has never been here.
Sam Darnold makes Super Bowl before Baker Mayfield, Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, and . . . Josh Rosen?
Let's first be clear before we extol Darnold, and deservedly so, for what he's accomplished in Seattle, and how he's turned his career around. He is still not Josh Allen or Lamar Jackson. Even if the Seahawks win the Super Bowl, and Darnold plays lights out as he did against the Los Angeles Rams, Darnold will still never be on Allen's or Jackson's level.
That being said, have Allen or Jackson, who have three MVPs between them in the last six years, ever made it this far? A Super Bowl, like Darnold has now? No, they have not. In fact, neither has made it past a conference championship game.
Darnold shares something in common with Allen and Jackson: all three were drafted in the same class in 2018. Darnold was taken No. 3 before them, but as their careers have played out, Allen and Jackson turned into the far superior quarterbacks and far more successful. Of course, Allen and Jackson aren't the only quarterbacks drafted with Darnold who have seen more success.
Baker Mayfield, who was the overall No. 1 draft pick in '18, has also had a more successful career than Darnold, but within the last few years, since taking over as quarterback for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, following Tom Brady's retirement. Mayfield and Darnold share a similar career story, though, in that they were both late bloomers.
Mayfield just late-bloomed sooner than Darnold did, and some still consider Mayfield to be the better quarterback today over Darnold. Of course, now, that's more up for debate than it was before. Then there was Josh Rosen, who was also drafted alongside Darnold and the others, but his NFL career sizzled out faster than a matchstick.
So while Darnold was seen as the bust, and the others (Rosen not included, who was a bust) have lived through great regular seasons, regular playoff appearances, statistics, and awards, only Darnold has made it this far — a Super Bowl that he could very well win. If he accomplishes that, the pressure is off him and lands squarely on the others, especially Allen and Jackson.
Darnold's career reads like a movie; five teams in eight years is quite the journey. He appears settled in Seattle for a long time, and while a Super Bowl won't leapfrog him over some of his quarterback peers, he will have something to hold over their heads.