The secret to Sam Darnold’s breakout 2024 season may be a 6’1″ quarterback who plays for the San Francisco 49ers.
Darnold shed his “bust” label last season when he led the Minnesota Vikings to a 14-3 record. The 27-year-old threw for 4,319 yards with 35 touchdowns, which both ranked top five in the NFL. Darnold was named a Pro Bowler, finished third for Comeback Player of the Year, and even received a few MVP votes.
Darnold’s stellar season helped him land a huge contract to be the starting QB of the Seattle Seahawks.
During his introductory press conference with the Seahawks, Darnold was asked to describe what fueled his drastic improvement. He pointed to his former teammate Brock Purdy as a big reason why.
“I really thank Brock a ton. Brock Purdy,” Darnold told reporters. “Just his style of play and how he kind of described his style as like, we’ve got a ton of great playmakers on offense. My job is just to play point guard and get the ball in their hands, and let them go do great things with the rock.
“When I started to change my thought process as a quarterback to kind of just getting the ball in my guys’ hands, that’s kind of where it unlocked for me.”
Darnold served as the 49ers’ backup QB during Purdy’s first full season as San Francisco’s starting quarterback. Purdy, who was just in his second pro season at the time, put together a campaign that saw him finish fourth in MVP voting.
Darnold deserves credit for being receptive to Purdy’s advice despite having several more years of NFL experience than San Francisco’s “Mr. Irrelevant.” While the change Darnold described sounds quite subtle, it’s hard to argue with the results.
Darnold, the 3rd overall pick in the 2018 draft, always had the talent but could never put it together until last season. The simple shift in mindset appears to have been all it took to unlock that talent on an NFL field.
