26 July 2024
It hasn’t taken veteran quarterback Sam Darnold very long to make a good impression at training camp.
On Wednesday afternoon, Darnold unleashed a beautiful deep ball toward the heavens, dropping it into the outstretched arms of receiver Justin Jefferson with the perfect amount of touch. On Thursday afternoon, Darnold followed it up with another impressive throw, hitting receiver Jordan Addison in stride nearly 50 yards away along the sidelines.
The arm talent is undeniable.
“He was throwing bombs,” Jefferson said with a smile when asked about Darnold. “He has been looking good.”
The next step for Darnold is fully grasping the offense he’ll be running under head coach Kevin O’Connell. He arrived in the spring and learned the ropes of the new scheme at organized team activities and mandatory minicamp. He returned in the summer looking ready to showcase his knowledge at training camp.
“I’m really starting to feel comfortable,” Darnold said. “It’s really fun to be able to push the limits of what we can do.”
There’s a mental checklist that Darnold goes through each time he gets a play call from O’Connell.
It starts with making sure he has the verbiage down as he enters the huddle. It continues with getting everybody on the same page as they approach the line of scrimmage. It ends with scanning the defense before the snap and adjusting in real time.
The fact that Darnold is going up against a group led by defensive coordinator Brian Flores on a daily basis has been extremely helpful in his development.
“Sometimes our defense is running 100 different coverages and different pressures off of them,” Darnold said. “It’s really good work for us to come out here and test the width of how much we know the playbook.”
All of it should slowly become second nature for Darnold over the next month or so. At least that’s the hope. He’s currently in position to be the starter for the Sept. 8 opener against the New York Giants, even though the Vikings selected rookie quarterback J.J. McCarthy with the No. 10 pick in the draft.
Asked about Darnold this week, O’Connell emphasized how excited he is to see him flourish with a support system around him. That’s not something Darnold had in time with the New York Jets or the Carolina Panthers, and while he had it with the San Francisco 49ers, he spent most of his time as the backup.
“He doesn’t need to be reminded about some of those experiences for him to apply them to how he operates every single day within our building,” O’Connell said. “He has always had the skill set. He has shown that that skill set matches with playing the quarterback position at the NFL level consistently. That’s going to be the name of the game: How comfortable can he get within our offense?”
As for the pressure that comes with what might end up being Darnold’s final chance to prove himself, he’s not thinking about that as he tries to rewrite the narrative. He’s more concerned with doing all the little things it takes to succeed at the highest level.
“The biggest thing for me as a quarterback is playing the game like a point guard,” Darnold said. “Just being able to dish the ball to the guys and let them go run after the catch and not try to do too much out there.”
Unless of course there’s chance for Darnold to let it rip downfield. He has already shown he’s more than capable of doing that.
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