Sam Darnold confident in career turnaround: 'I can be one of the best quarterbacks in the league'

Sam Darnold is teetering on the brink of NFL Draft bust status, but he certainly does not sound like he’s lost any confidence as he prepares for an important season with the Carolina Panthers.

On Tuesday, Darnold spoke to the media for the first time since the start of offseason workouts, and offered an incredibly confident assessment of what he thinks he can do in 2022.

“As long as I know what we’re doing, what the defense is doing, I’m confident I can be one of the best quarterbacks in the league,” Darnold said, via David Newton of ESPN.

Darnold certainly has not lived up to that sort of title so far in his NFL career. That is why the New York Jets were willing to move on from him, and the Panthers don’t seem to have a lot of confidence in him either. That has shown itself in how the organization has discussed him, plus the fact that the team seems open to alternatives.

Darnold threw 13 interceptions and nine touchdown passes in 12 games last season, the second consecutive campaign in which he threw more picks than TD passes. It’s probably not because he didn’t know what he was doing or what the defense was doing, either.