Sam Darnold’s Unlikely Rise: From Jets Castoff to Super Bowl Starter
Sam Darnold has officially etched his name alongside Joe Namath in New York Jets lore - though not in the way Gang Green fans might’ve hoped.
Darnold becomes just the second quarterback ever drafted by the Jets to reach a Super Bowl. Namath, of course, famously delivered on his guarantee in Super Bowl III.
Darnold? He’s making his Super Bowl debut in a Seahawks uniform, far removed from his days in green and white.
It’s been a long, winding road for the former No. 3 overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft. His early years with the Jets were marked by flashes of talent but far more frustration.
In three seasons as the starter, Darnold went 13-25 - a stretch defined by inconsistency, a rotating cast of coaches, and a lack of offensive stability. Eventually, the Jets moved on, trading him to the Carolina Panthers.
Things didn’t exactly click in Carolina either. Two underwhelming seasons later, Darnold found himself in San Francisco, backing up in Kyle Shanahan’s quarterback-friendly system.
That year on the bench turned out to be a turning point. He soaked up the nuances of one of the league’s most innovative offenses - and when opportunity knocked again, he was ready.
That opportunity came in Minnesota. Signed as a backup, Darnold was thrust into the starting role when rookie J.J.
McCarthy suffered a season-ending knee injury in the preseason. What followed was nothing short of remarkable: a 14-3 campaign that not only revived his career but earned him a $100 million deal in free agency with the Seattle Seahawks.
Now, in his first year with Seattle, Darnold has led the Seahawks to the NFC’s No. 1 seed and punched their ticket to the Super Bowl.
He earned it, too. In the NFC Championship Game, Darnold was poised under pressure, delivering touchdown strikes to Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Cooper Kupp, and Jake Bobo - all while navigating a relentless Rams pass rush. It was the kind of performance that would’ve been hard to imagine during his turbulent early years, but it’s become the new normal for this version of Darnold: confident, composed, and in command.
And now, the Super Bowl stage awaits - against a familiar opponent, no less. Darnold will face the New England Patriots, the same franchise that once left him famously “seeing ghosts” during a Monday night meltdown in his Jets days.
But that was a different Darnold. And this is a very different Patriots team.
Still, it’s a full-circle moment. For Jets fans, it’s a strange one.
Watching Darnold reach the NFL’s biggest stage - not as their quarterback, but as a rival’s - is a tough pill to swallow. Namath did it in green and white.
Darnold’s doing it from the Pacific Northwest.
But regardless of the uniform, the story is undeniable: Sam Darnold, once written off as a bust, is now 60 minutes away from a Super Bowl title.