The annual race to draft and develop young quarterbacks has reached the point of near-insanity in the NFL, and it produces plenty of casualties. Coaches and GMs get fired, personnel “experts” lose their credibility and quarterbacks get broken and fractured in the process.
Rehabilitating these broken quarterbacks can be an impossible task. Most damaged QBs end up carrying a clipboard for the rest of their careers, but what the Detroit Lions and Minnesota Vikings are doing with Jared Goff and Sam Darnold, respectively, is emphatic proof that it can be done. The squared off today in Minnesota in a 31-29 thriller won by the Lions, and both resurgent quarterbacks put on an absolute show.
Jared Goff’s resurgence is based on having a clean pocket
Goff had a lot of success in LA with the Rams, at least until he was exposed by Bill Belichick and the New England defense in the Patriot’s 13-3 Super Bowl win. Jared Goff’s confidence and decision-making ability seemed to go downhill after that, to the point where Rams coach Sean McVay eventually chose to go with a savvy veteran, Matthew Stafford.
The Rams loss turned out to be Detroit's gain, and the decision worked out for both teams as they essentially swapped quarterbacks. Picking up Goff was widely panned, but giving him a clean pocket produced a very different quarterback.
The Lions have also built a strong receiving corps to give Goff plenty of viable targets, and this year Detroit has further developed its turbocharged running backs, which featured a long touchdown run by the explosive Jahmyr Gibbs against the Vikings.
So what’s the lesson here? First and foremost, every quarterback has warts and flaws, but building around a quarterback’s strengths can work. Goff continues to make impressive throws, and as his confidence has returned he’s become an accomplished veteran quarterback who has added a love affair with the city of Detroit to his QB resume. Goff still has rough games where he makes bad throws, but he’s now a top ten quarterback at the very least.
Sam Darnold is seeing success instead of ghosts
As damaged as Goff was, Sam Darnold looked even more broken. The reason is simple—Darnold went through the New York Jets quarterback experience, and he started as the franchise savior to a guy who was caught on mic confessing that he was “seeing ghosts” when he went to read defenses. When Darnold struggled in a brief second-chance stint in Carolina, it looked like his career as a clipboard carrier was basically carved in stone.
Not quite. Darnold landed in San Francisco as Brock Purdy’s backup, but his relegation didn’t last for long. He signed with the Vikings to back up rookie JJ McCarthy, but when McCarthy got hurt in the preseason Darnold once again became the man.
The difference in Minnesota is palpable, though. Kevin O’Connell is a genuine quarterback whisperer whose system emphasizes ball security, and the Vikings coach has capitalized on Darnold’s ability to take shots down the field, not to mention his athleticism.
Oh, yeah, and he also has Justin Jefferson as a target. Jefferson can turn ordinary chain-moving throws into big plays, and he’s been one of the best in the league at making big plays to begin with. Aaron Jones has been reborn as a receiver in Minnesota, and like Goff in Detroit, Darnold now has a comprehensive array of confidence-restoring weapons to rely on.
Darnold also seems far more comfortable in Minneapolis, where media pressure is more of a rumor than an actual thing. He’s come a long way after seeing pigskin apparitions in the Big Apple, and both he and the Vikings are better for it.