Sam Darnold is living proof that you can give up on somebody way too quickly.
He was drafted by the Jets in a terrible situation. Then, much like Baker Mayfield, he bounced around a bit. Lo and behold, he gets an opportunity with a really smart, offensive-minded head coach in Kevin O’Connell and one of the best weapons in football in Justin Jeferson and makes the most of it.
One of my favorite things about Darnold was the story about his recruitment process. USC had already gotten five-star recruits at quarterback, so he was late to the process. He said he’d go to USC under the premise that the best guy wins the job. In other words, just because those guys were five-star recruits and had already committed, they weren’t going to have a head start. USC said sure, and that’s exactly what happened.
Darnold has never been afraid of the challenge.
I also think it’s a maturation process. People forget these athletes are so young when they get drafted. The rarest of rare are like Patrick Mahomes and Jayden Daniels. Even look at Josh Allen, who was drafted with Darnold in 2018.
It takes time. You’ve got to let it bake a little bit. Darnold has been given the opportunity after baking and becoming fully ripe as a functioning adult. It’s really fun to see.
Jets mess
I thought it was really interesting in the post-game presser when Robert Saleh said how the Jets may need to dial back the hard count on the cadence because they had as many false starts as they did against Denver. When Aaron Rodgers was asked about that question, he answered the media but also sent a statement to his head coach.
Rodgers’ hard count has been a weapon his entire career, and now you’re saying it needs to be dialed back because of the false starts?
Rodgers’ message about holding guys accountable isn’t wrong, but he basically took Saleh and cut him down in front of everybody. And this is the same guy who decided to go to Egypt instead of mandatory minicamp. Rodgers knows how to read a calendar. He knew exactly when Jets mandatory minicamp was, and he scheduled that trip anyway.
At the time, Saleh expressed how the Jets knew why he wasn’t around, but it’s not excused. In other words, “Oh no. We’ve given this guy so much power, he can do pretty much whatever he wants,” and Rodgers kind of did that after the loss Sunday.
Mark Murphy said it best years ago when he was the president of the Packers: “He’s a complicated fella” — which is one of the most back-handed compliments I’ve ever heard.
Rodgers isn’t wrong about what he said. But the way he delivered that message instead of talking to the coach about it? That’s a man who feels like he can say and do whatever he wants in this organization, and they’re not gonna bother him at all.
NFC East-leading Commanders
I was asked a couple times this summer about who would be the worst-to-first team. I really liked the Commanders for a couple of reasons.
One, nobody ever repeats in the NFC East. Hasn’t happened since 2004, so the Cowboys are out.
The Giants are just terrible, I don’t care what anyone says. They’re not going anywhere.
Then there’s the Eagles, who have issues. People don’t want to acknowledge this, but the rift between Nick Sirianni and Jalen Hurts is still there. Hurts is a turnover machine. And for all the praise Howie Roseman gets for the draft, they’re not good defensively.
Point being, I’m not surprised.
I like Dan Quinn, and Jayden Daniels is it — He’s got that quality that you look for, making big plays.
Daniels has come up big in a lot of situations. He’s got weapons to play with, and that Commanders defense is going to get better under Quinn — look how much worse the Cowboys defense is now, as opposed to what they were last year with Quinn.
Quinn knows how to dial up defenses. He has a quarterback he can trust, and Kliff Kingsbury has done a remarkable job of reinvented himself at the NFL level.
I really think the Commanders might surprise a lot of people this year.
Watch Pregame PowerUp on Samsung TV Plus, Roku, Google TV, Sling Freestream, Vizio and DraftKingsNetwork.com from 6-7 p.m. ET on Monday and Thursday nights before primetime matchups! Follow Trey Wingo on X @wingoz.
The Crown Is Yours: Sign up for DraftKings and experience the ultimate host for games and betting experiences!
All odds provided by DraftKings Sportsbook and all odds subject to change.
I am a paid sponsor of DraftKings and all views expressed are my own.