Seahawks' Sam Darnold gives advice to young quarterbacks considered busts

Sam Darnold joined the Minnesota Vikings as a journeyman quarterback last offseason before he enjoyed the best campaign of his career to receive a three-year, $100.5M contract from the Seattle Seahawks earlier this month.

For an article published on Tuesday, Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated asked Darnold to share some advice for young quarterbacks who may be considered busts before they turn 30. 

"I think the biggest thing, especially as an early draft pick, you might feel like you have all the answers, but this is what I did: I kept learning. I kept learning every single day," Darnold explained. "Even with little successes in New York and even some of the mistakes I made in New York, I learned from them. I took the coaching and learned from it, and did the same thing in Carolina and so on and so on. The biggest thing is no matter what level you’re at, no matter where you get drafted, you’re always learning and you’re always growing as a quarterback."

The New York Jets made Darnold the third overall pick of the 2018 NFL Draft, but the Jets traded him to the Carolina Panthers after just three seasons that included the signal-caller seeing "ghosts" during games. The Panthers gave up on Darnold after two seasons, and he subsequently spent the 2023 campaign as a backup with a San Francisco 49ers side led by head coach/offensive guru Kyle Shanahan. 

That San Francisco tenure seemingly did wonders for Darnold, who guided the 2024 Vikings to a 14-3 record and a playoff berth.

"I think another big thing is just staying humble in your work and keeping the work and the grind number one," Darnold added during his chat with Breer. "People say, 'Keeping the main thing the main thing.' I think that’s huge. ...I just got to go out there and play it one play at a time and do my job every single play. If I just do that, the rest will take care of itself."

Darnold and fellow quarterback Baker Mayfield, the No. 1 pick of the 2018 draft, were teammates with the Panthers back in 2022 after the Cleveland Browns replaced Mayfield with Deshaun Watson. Mayfield eventually played well enough with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to earn a big-money deal from that organization, and he'll turn just 30 years old in April. 

It remains to be seen if Darnold or Mayfield will ever prove they can consistently win the biggest games of a season for any team. The fact neither can be considered a bust this spring shows just how far they've come since they shared a quarterback room in Carolina.