Have the Minnesota Vikings struck gold with Sam Darnold?
Based on the vibes and reporting from the first two days of training camp practice, they seem to have. The arm talent Darnold possesses has stood out among all of the beat reporters attending practice and that shouldn't be a surprise.
In 2018, Darnold was the third overall pick in the NFL Draft but was selected by the New York Jets. They didn't do enough to surround him with good coaches or talent and he floundered quickly.
Sam Darnold airs it out in training camp practice
The highlights were prevalent across the first two days of training camp with Darnold completing passes to both Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison.
Already airing it out 🎯@JJettas2 pic.twitter.com/MyTvk5a4sC
— Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) July 25, 2024
Sam Darnold dropping a dime to Jordan Addison pic.twitter.com/bX4OF6Av91
— Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) July 25, 2024
This shouldn't be too much of a surprise. Talent always pops during drills early on in training camp. What really matters is how it will translate on the field.
The good thing for the Vikings is that talent usually translates when they practice well. If he does play well, the Vikings could have a Drew Brees problem on their hands like the Chargers did in 2004.
"I want to relate it to a scenario that happened with the Chargers 2001 NFL draft. They had the first overall pick and hey weren't 100% sold on Michael Vick. Now, in today's day and age, I think everybody would have been sold on Michael Vick the player, but 2001 it was a very, very different league so they traded back to fifth overall and they got a decent package and then they took LaDanian Tomlinson and with the first pick in the second round, they took Drew Brees. And Brees we know and he's going to end up being in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, but at that point, Brees his first couple years he was okay and very up and down. And in the 2004 NFL Draft, they had the first overall pick again they took Eli Manning, traded for Philip Rivers, got extra draft capital from the Giants and the rest is history. So 2004 Drew Brees is in a contract year, balls out and I believe he made the Pro Bowl so now the Chargers are looking at themselves okay. We've got essentially the first overall pick here because that's the pick they had Rivers was taken for do we go with Rivers or do we keep Drew Brees after he just absolutely balled out and he looks to be like a legitimate quarterback. What do we do? And I think that scenario is something that you can kind of look at for a comparison point if darnold just all of the sudden takes off because he just turned 27 years old."
The story of Darnold with the Vikings is only in its first chapter, but it seems to be going really well so far.
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