Sam Darnold or Ryan Tannehill: Which quarterback would you want?

The Case Against Sam Darnold

Ironically, the same thing that works in Darnold’s favor also works against him: we haven’t seen much of him. He’s yet to play a full season, and while stats aren’t the end-all indicator of a quarterback’s potential, they haven’t been that promising.

Among quarterbacks who started at least 16 games over the past two years, Darnold had the third-lowest passer rating (81.1), the third-lowest completion rate (59.9 percent) and the fifth-highest interception rate (3.27 percent of his passes have been picked). He’s also thrown the fourth-most interceptions in that time span (28).

While he’s certainly been the victim of drops, Darnold has only completed over 70 percent of his passes twice each season, barely. Tannehill did it five times just last year. The statistics have not been kind for Darnold. Is it a product of a bad team, a bad passer or both?

Two seasons shouldn’t be the only indicator of whether a quarterback is good or not. But it still leaves many questions surrounding Darnold. While Tannehill isn’t exempt from questions, he did offer a better glimpse of what type of quarterback a team could get.

If you’re willing to take the gamble on Darnold, it could pay off. A lot of teams might not want a passer who hasn’t proven anything concrete, and that’s Darnold’s biggest weakness. Not many teams would be comfortable with a projection and could opt for something they’re more familiar with, such as Tannehill.