• Darnold is off to one of the best begin of his profession: Darnold’s 83.7 PFF passing grade at the moment ranks third within the NFL, as does his 9.5 yards per go try.
• Playing with extra confidence: Before this season, Darnold posted a 60.7 profession passing grade when making throws to his first learn, one of many worst marks within the league. This season, he ranks third within the NFL behind Aaron Rodgers and Derek Carr with an 88.8 passing grade on first-read throws.
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Estimated studying time: 4 minutes
The Minnesota Vikings had a transparent plan forward of the 2024 NFL season: Veteran quarterback Sam Darnold would maintain the reins simply lengthy sufficient for first-round decide J.J. McCarthy to take over, by which period Darnold would retreat to the sidelines and maintain the clipboard, as he is carried out so typically in recent times.
But when McCarthy went down with a season-ending knee harm within the preseason, all the things modified.
Suddenly, Darnold wasn’t only a placeholder — he was the person tasked with main Minnesota’s cost. And towards all odds, he has proven via the primary two video games that he can lead his workforce into postseason competition.
Darnold’s 83.7 PFF passing grade at the moment ranks third within the NFL, as does his 9.5 yards per go try. Armed with strong go safety and a robust group of weapons, he’s confirmed that he can achieve a number of methods which can be important to Kevin O’Connell’s offense.
First and foremost, Darnold has proven improved ball safety, which was his major difficulty even going all the way in which again to his faculty profession at USC.
From 2018 to 2023, Darnold posted a 4.1% turnover-worthy play price, the fourth-worst amongst quarterbacks with not less than 1,000 dropbacks. Despite rating simply twenty third in regular-season dropbacks, his 56 interceptions had been the ninth-most within the league throughout that stretch, highlighting his struggles with ball safety.
Through two weeks of the 2024 marketing campaign, his lone turnover-worthy play was an interception to Fred Warner, one of the best linebacker within the NFL, who made an unimaginable play to catch the ball. Otherwise, he’s posted a comparatively clear slate and is considered one of 10 quarterbacks who’ve began two video games and dedicated one or fewer turnover-worthy performs.
It can be affordable to suppose that Darnold’s newfound ball safety outcomes from a extra conservative method. That’s not the case, nonetheless, as Darnold’s 8.8-yard common goal depth is sort of similar to his profession common.
In reality, one of many major weapons for the Vikings thus far has been Darnold’s prowess as a vertical passer.
Sam Darnold: Deep passing (throws of 20-plus yards) stats
| Passing grade | 97.2 | 2nd |
| Completion % | 71.4% | 1st |
| Passing yards | 210 | 2nd |
| Big-time throws | 4 | T-2nd |
Darnold’s arm expertise has by no means been in query, however for a number of causes all through his profession, he appeared unable to finish deep passes. Before this season, his 66.9 deep passing grade was the third-worst within the NFL amongst passers with not less than 100 makes an attempt since 2018. This season, he’s displaying the boldness to take photographs downfield to a number of of the Vikings’ weapons.
Another important ingredient of Minnesota’s offense is their use of play-action. Over the previous two seasons, the Vikings led the NFL in play-action dropbacks and ranked second behind San Francisco in play-action passing grade.
Before this season, Darnold owned a profession 67.5 play-action passing grade. His 60.8% completion price on such passes was the bottom within the NFL amongst 38 passers who threw not less than 300 play-action passes from 2018 to 2023.
Naturally, Darnold appears to have alleviated these woes, as nicely.
Sam Darnold: Play-action passing stats
| Passing grade | 90.5 | 2nd |
| Passing TDs | 3 | T-1st |
| Completion % | 69.2 | 14th |
| Yards per try | 14.3 | 1st |
Minnesota has run the ball nicely thus far, and Darnold’s skill to thrive with play-action has been a terrific complement. This is a method they will proceed to succeed with.
Lastly, whereas Darnold’s arm expertise is permitting him to make big-time throws down the sector, his confidence in his pre-snap reads is at an all-time excessive. He has a wonderful understanding of the place the ball must go in O’Connell’s offense.
Before this season, Darnold posted a 60.7 profession passing grade when making throws to his first learn, which was (once more) one of many worst marks within the league. This season, he ranks third within the NFL behind Aaron Rodgers and Derek Carr with an 88.8 passing grade on first-read throws.
His common time to throw isn’t considerably completely different from the remainder of his profession, so it’s not as if he’s dashing the ball out. He’s merely taking part in with extra confidence in himself, his weapons and his safety.
The Vikings didn’t plan on their complete season balancing on Sam Darnold‘s success, however thus far, he’s taking part in at a degree that he by no means has earlier than. If he continues his present degree of play for the whole season, he may make his first postseason look as a starter.