Steelers and Sam Darnold

Wait a minute. Didn't Joe Flacco go 14 tds, and no ints throughout the playoffs, and in the SB???

 

What could have been.

If you sign a Sam Darnold and pronounce him "Franchise QB." Then:
- You better taylor and offense to highlight his skills. You do everything to guarantee success.
- OC must be in loc-synch
- you better have a decent group of WR's
- you need to run the ball well.
- You need a solid defense that get the ball back as well as keep games in hand.

Minnesota and Seattle has done just that.
Pittsburgh is not quite there.
But I do think McCarthy could make Sam Darnold successful, maybe not year 1.

 

Let's not get it twisted.
I've said this 500 million times. If You can keep yourself in the NFL, You will get better, the problem is how much better. Darnold got better, but He is far from great.
Sam Darnold had 25 tds, 14 ints, and 11 fumbles .
I can't think of one Qb we would have said had a great season with that. He played on a great team, and was not asked to do much, and he seized the opportunity, and we can't ever take that from Him.

 

He did but the team lost a couple of fumbles in the playoffs. The Seahawks had zero turnovers throughout the playoffs.

 

Oh my bad, I read it wrong. I thought it was just about Sam Darnolds stats. I apologize.

 

Sam Darnold was never going anywhere but Seattle. Just stop with the alternate realities. It is not a Marvel movie.

https://www.si.com/nfl/sam-darnold-explains-decision-sign-seahawks-free-agency

"[The scheme] was definitely one of the things I factored into signing here," Darnold said to assembled media. "Just being able to work with Klint, having talked with Klint a ton in San Francisco about what wee like and dislike. We have so much in common when it comes to football."

 

Kwesi Adofo-Mensah didn't get the axe solely on letting Sam Darnold go though. To me, that was the final straw. There are events that led up to that; specifically his ability both identify and acquire talent in the NFL Draft. Of the 28 picks he selected from 2022 to 2025, only the likes of Jordan Addison, kicker Will Reichard (2024) and WR Jalen Nailor would be considered successes thus far. Dallas Turner still may have time to turn the Corner but J.J. McCarthy man.... oof.


I would still give him one more season but often times in today's NFL with QBs, if one doesn't see any major improvement from them from Year One to Year Two, it is fair to say that he is what he is. Sam Darnold's and Baker Mayfields are very rare cases.... and the jury is still out of Darnold despite the Super Bowl win.


Happy for him; truly. Still, want to see more.

 

I think they mean the whole team didn't have any turnovers.

 

Agreed. There were significant questions about how he approached his job. He tried to do the role in a way that no other NFL GM was. If you are going to be unique....you have to get it right almost all the time. He did not.Drafts were awful

 

Darnold also faded at the end of the 2024 season and in the playoffs, there were questions still about him.

 

People tend to forget that he arrived to Minnesota via Cleveland as the Vice President of Football Operations. Mind you, prior to that, he was with San Francisco and was an understudy to Contract Manager Paraag Marathe; one of the very best during the 2010s. That however, by itself shouldn't be the focus.


To go from San Francisco to then Cleveland?! Man...

 

It is funny how people forget how bad Seattle's O-line was in the 2024 season. Seattle drafted a guard in the 1st round, the Steelers had 2 new 1st round picks starting in 2025 with Aaron Rodgers ( LT and RT).

Darnold was able to make his line so much better from the 2024 line; but Aaron Rodgers probably made his line worse.

2024 O-line Ranking.
Steelers 14th best line in football
Seattle 31st. (2nd worst)

 

25TDs and 25TOs? Sounds like a Jameis Winston stat.

 

I probably also don't want this to get twisted since one of those funky "optimistic" rainbows showed up when talking about Sam.
Sam is not Joe Montana, or Peyton Maning, or Mahomes, or Drew Brees.
Sam is in a perfect place.
Sam kind of reminds me of a Phil Sims... not great, but good enough to operate the right system, well enough.
Like Trent Dilfer did back in that god awful Ravens/Giants mess. But Sam might be a half step ahead of Trent.

I agree with you 100%.

 

Funny, I think the next question should be how much better did the WR room get when Seattle was able to unload DK Metcalf?

Something tells me they don't have the Offense Player of the Year on their team if DK is still a Seahawk.

 

Darnold wouldve been a good bridge Qb, he wouldve bought us time to find our next franchise Qb and wouldve kept us in contention per ARII’s wishes.

In terms of cap, he wouldve been a better signing than guaranteeing all that money to a past his prime Watt.

As far as system, i think thats a bit overblown, we couldve modified our system to fit what he was comfortable with. Hell, we’ve been changing OC’s pretty frequently lately anyway.

Agree, Signing Darnold and maybe also retaining Pickens wouldve really helped our offense.

 

did you think popcorn would have let him throw in to the middle as he does with not all this accuracy ?

 

I knew these threads were coming

 

Also, Darnolds 8 yr. Yes he had back to back good seasons. He is still a turnover machine, very fortunate to not have thrown 3 ints last night.
Happy for him
Had he came to Pittsburgh
His career would’ve reverted back to the 3 other teams he played for before going to Minnesota
Nothing against Darnold
Our offensive scheme
Is just that
Offensive

 

I was wrong about Sam Darnold. Those who are skeptical, he won 15 games in Minnesota and then wins the NFC West and a SB a year later.

He is much better than folks want to believe. That team destroyed SF.

 

Agree. He can be what a team needs him to be, when it needs him to be it. A gunslinger when needed. A game manager when needed. And the Seahawks only needed him to play safe in the Super Bowl, which he did, quite well.

Very happy for the guy. I would have loved to see him in a Steelers uniform with a competent offensive scheme and better receiving weapons.

 

yeah, your right, there is always that potential.

 

When comparing Qb’s you have to regularly watch both, at least the replays. Stats dont tell the whole story, how many of those passing TD’s were garbage time TD’s vs crunch time TD’s? how many int’s were truly the Qb’s fault or did a few bounce off the receivers hands?…etc…

 

I see that now. I read that wrong. Totally my bad.

 

Darnold had 6 fumbles not 11 this season.