The question posed to veteran quarterback Sam Darnold this week was pretty straightforward.
Did he think the New York Jets failed him early in his NFL career?
“No,” he said. “I think I had a lot of opportunities in New York, and I always felt like I could’ve played better there.”
All the credit to Darnold for taking the high road with the Vikings set to play the Jets on Sunday at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London.
He could have used his success with the Vikings as a way to illustrate how much the Jets bungled his development after selecting him with the No. 3 pick in the 2018 NFL Draft out of the University of Southern California. He chose instead to take accountability for the role he played in things not working out.
Not surprisingly, Darnold continued steering the conversation away from this being a revenge game for him, as did head coach Kevin O’Connell when asked if he feels he has to address the elephant in the room ahead of the matchup between the Vikings and Jets.
“No, I don’t,” O’Connell said. “I’ve been so happy with Sam, and I think he’s going to continue to focus on doing his job against a really talented defense.”
The fact that Darnold has played so well this season, however, makes for an interesting case study when discussing the concept of Nature vs. Nurture when it comes to developing a young quarterback in the NFL.
As a way to further dive into that topic, the Pioneer Press spent this week reaching out a number of longtime NFL quarterbacks, including Kurt Warner, Matt Ryan, Rich Gannon and Dan Orlovsky to get their opinion.
The general consensus among Warner, Ryan, Gannon and Orlovsky seemed to center on the importance of the pieces in place around a young quarterback.
“There are very few quarterbacks that can elevate above the talent around them,” said Warner, now an NFL Network analyst who will call the game between the Vikings and Jets on Sunday. “It’s hard for a guy to succeed if the guys around him aren’t talented. It’s as simple as that. Nobody goes out there and wins the Super Bowl by himself.”
That’s something Warner can attest to based on his career. Though he helped the St. Louis Rams win Super Bowl XXXIV as the straw that stirred the drink for The Greatest Show on Turf, Warner had offensive weapons that included running back Marshall Faulk, receiver Torry Holt and receiver Isaac Bruce.
It was a similar story for Ryan when he broke into the NFL with the Atlanta Falcons. He referenced how important it was for him to have running back Michael Turner, receiver Roddy White and Hall of Fame tight end Tony Gonzalez at his disposal early in his career.
“It’s massive to have that support,” said Ryan, now a CBS analyst on The NFL Today. “All of those things were in place, and I think that took a lot off of my plate.”
How does that pertain to the concept of Nature vs. Nurture?
“You have to have this prerequisite of natural ability to get to be able to go out there and do it and get to the NFL,” Ryan said. “Now, I would argue once somebody gets to the NFL, talent is less relevant because everybody has it.”
That’s why the infrastructure is imperative to a young quarterback.
“It’s not always whether the young quarterback is ready to play,” said Gannon, who started his career with the Vikings. “It’s sometimes whether the team is ready for the young quarterback.”
Now, if a team isn’t, it doesn’t take much for things to spiral out of control. A few bad games can turn into a few bad months in a blink of an eye.
That snowball effect seemed to get to Darnold early in his career with the Jets and continued during his tenure with the Carolina Panthers. He finally found some stability last season with the San Francisco 49ers before landing with the Vikings.
The ability to push through that adversity and come out stronger on the other side is what stands out most to Orlovsky when evaluating Darnold and what he has done this season.
“It’s as impressive as the play itself,” said Orlovsky, an ESPN analyst “He’s been so mentally tough throughout his journey, and it’s been so cool to watch that pay off for him.”
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