Sam Darnold turned heads in his preseason debut with the Jets, but not all were impressed...at first.
It took some warming up from certain NFL veterans, like Redskins cornerback Josh Norman. But after three days of joint practice sessions between the two teams, Norman came around.
"Someone asked me about him the other day, and I was like, yeah, whatever, he's just a guy," Norman said, via ESPN. "Then you go out here and see him making these throws and you're like, all right. That's not so much a college-level throw. He's putting them on the money."
Darnold was the third overall pick in the draft and was opposite Washington's No. 1 defense during practices. He's currently in a battle for the starting quarterback spot with Josh McCown and Teddy Bridgewater.
Norman, 30, was impressed with the rookie through various drills from full-team work to 7-on-7s and even his ability to read game-like situations.
"It's like, dang," Norman said. "You get rookies in here, and you try to mess them with a little bit and bait them a little bit into thinking they're throwing a route, and you can make a play and he's not having it. It's so crazy to see that at an early age. Dak (Prescott) has that; Carson (Wentz) has that. So it's like, man, they must come in here not wanting to screw it up, and he's so far impressed me and I didn't want him to. I wanted to break all rookies. He's been doing a great job.
"I couldn't bait him like I wanted to ... he read it out like a vet. You tip your hat to a guy like that, learning at an early age when guys are messing with him and when they're not. It's pretty awesome."