NFL Free Agency 2023: Predicting landing spots for top 10 QBs
7. Sam Darnold, Panthers
player. Scouting Report. Pick Analysis. Panthers. Sam Darnold. QB. 7. 87
Sam Darnold 2022 stats
- 6 games
- 58.6 completion rate
- 1,143 yards
- 7 TD
- 3 INT
Sam Darnold appeared to be a lost cause for the Carolina Panthers until he got on the field this past season and almost immediately started raising eyebrows with his play. Darnold’s completion percentage was still below the 60 percent threshold that is typically acceptable, but he helped the Panthers win four of the six games he started, had his highest TD percentage ever, and cut down on the turnovers.
Darnold’s situation this coming offseason is not all that dissimilar to what Jameis Winston was facing after his 30-interception campaign with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He needs to get with the right coach to get him on the right track. He’s still just 25 years old, believe it or not, and his NFL career is far from over as we saw late in the 2022 season.
I don’t know if there’s a better situation for Darnold than to go work with Sean Payton and the Denver Broncos. It wasn’t exactly a glowing endorsement, but Payton felt back before the 2018 NFL Draft that Darnold would be the last of that year’s QBs standing, if he had to guess.
Sean Payton on this year's imperfect QB prospects: "The pressure to get a QB is so great in this league... But we can’t create ’em. I wouldn’t be surprised if only one of these guys is left standing in 4-5 years, and if so, I’d guess Sam Darnold.”https://t.co/W60U9pEnxP pic.twitter.com/EDTrLjfaCi
— The MMQB (@theMMQB) April 16, 2018
That seems like a massive indictment on Payton for missing on Josh Allen, but keep in mind that Allen was not unanimously considered a great prospect back then due to his tremendous accuracy issues. As it turns out, he’s become one of the best QBs in the league. It’s also important to note that Lamar Jackson was wrongfully not considered up there with the likes of Baker Mayfield, Sam Darnold, Josh Rosen, and Josh Allen in the 2018 NFL Draft class. He was considered a borderline first-round pick.
But I digress.
At any rate, Russell Wilson needs a backup that can actually push him. There are a few options on this very list that make plenty of sense, but perhaps none more so than Darnold, who was once the apple of John Elway’s eye. Elway is no longer making the decisions in Denver (GM George Paton and HC Sean Payton are), but the Broncos saw Darnold up close this past year, and got beat by him pretty bad.
Darnold has actually played well against the Broncos on a couple of occasions, and he’s in the kind of situation right now where he might be the perfect player for the Broncos to sign to a two-year deal and hedge their bets with Russell Wilson.