It’s far too early to say that Minnesota Vikings quarterback Sam Darnold has redefined his NFL career, but after a 2-0 start – including an upset win over San Francisco last Sunday – the former USC star is definitely on a different trajectory.

Darnold, once the third pick of the New York Jets, has struggled to find his comfort zone since his 2018 draft. He moved from the Jets to Carolina, to the 49ers and finally this season to the Vikings, the only undefeated team in the NFC North.

“It’s great to have a coach and a team that believes in you,” Darnold said, referring to Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell. “But he doesn’t just believe in me, he believes in the entire team and the entire offense so they can go out there and accomplish their goals.”

It’s a small sample size, and the Vikings will have another test on Sunday against the 2-0 Houston Texans, but it’s an encouraging start for Darnold. While he started 2021 3-0 with the Panthers before going 1-8 in the rest of his appearances, this feels different.

“We believe our offense with the players around Sam can lead to great success,” O’Connell told reporters this week. “The vision for him started before he got here and we’ve really worked toward that every day.”

Darnold is among a handful of quarterbacks remaking their reputations, including Tampa Bay’s Baker Mayfield and New Orleans’ Derek Carr, both of whom are also undefeated.

The Seattle Seahawks are also ahead 2-0. At the helm is Geno Smith, a quarterback who is already rewriting his history after a rocky start to his career with the Jets.

There is no position in football that is more turbulent and temperamental. Carolina’s Bryce Young, the No. 1 pick last year, was reminded of that this week when the Panthers benched him.

Mayfield, also a former No. 1 pick, understands this as well as anyone. He played for Cleveland, Carolina and the Rams before signing with Tampa Bay last season.

“Being a quarterback is tough, especially for young players, when you’re not surrounded by the right players and you don’t have a chance to succeed,” he told reporters this week. “A lot of times guys have the talent, they may have the brains, but they don’t have the right opportunity, the right fit.”

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“I’m sitting here and I’m in a much better position than I’ve been in any other place. That’s not to disparage other teams. It’s about the parts around you, the coaches and Bryce, a guy who – and I can relate to that – is finding his belief in himself again. He’s going to make it. His story is far from over.”

To gain more insight into the factors that contribute to success and learn more about Darnold, I asked former quarterbacks Rich Gannon, Steve Young, Kurt Warner and Jim Everett for their opinions.

Here are her words:

Gannon: Quarterbacks need trust

Sam Darnold, Baker Mayfield, Derek Carr, they all want what (former Philadelphia Eagles coach) Dick Vermeil gave to (quarterback) Ron Jaworski. I keep watching this clip from NFL Films. He’s playing in Philadelphia, a tough place to play. The Eagles were lousy and booed those guys nonstop, and Jaworski throws a pick. He comes to the sideline and Dick Vermeil puts his arm around Jaworski’s waist and says, “Hey, you’re my man. I’m not going to mess with you.”

I talked to Jaworski about it and what it meant to him. What it means to any quarterback, right? Because these kids lose their confidence. The kid in Carolina right now doesn’t know if he’s coming or going. Part of it is because once you lose confidence, it’s hard to get it back.

When Denny Green screwed me in Minnesota in 1992, that really set me back. I was playing and he didn’t tell me to take a break. The offensive coordinator came and benched me for a couple of weeks, then put me back on the field against Steve Young and the 49ers. I threw a bad pass or something, an incomplete pass, and I look at the sideline and think, “Am I going to get taken out again?”

That’s not the way to play. The quarterbacks we’ve talked about have a guy who embraces them. They have an organization that tells them, ‘Hey, you’re our guy.’ That means the world to someone who’s been put through the wringer, discarded and put on the street. It means a lot. Trust me. I’ve been there and I know what that feels like.

Young: Find the right trainer, fit

What’s happened to NFL teams is that there are leaders, followers and laggards. The leaders in today’s NFL are the teams that are coached and managed in new, innovative ways to meet the truths of this new reality. The leaders are coaches like Kyle Shanahan (San Francisco) and Andy Reid (Kansas City) who reinvent themselves every year and come up with innovative ways to run an offense. It never stops. It’s a wonderful place to be a quarterback. You want to be in Kansas City. You want to be in San Francisco. You want to be with the Rams and Sean McVay.

For Sam Darnold, going to San Francisco, even as a backup, was crucial. That’s what made this turnaround. He reimagined what it means to play quarterback in the league, what it looks like, what’s possible – how to coach it, how to use it, how to call it, how to read it. He says, “Oh, hell yeah.”

When Brock Purdy was injured, there were times when Kyle stepped in: “I want Sam to play quarterback. I want him to do more.” Kyle believes in Sam. He just couldn’t keep him.

That’s what happens when an innovative mind sees somebody and says, “Oh, yeah.” So Sam says, “Oh, yeah,” and Kyle says, “Oh, yeah,” and it doesn’t quite work out. So Sam does the next best thing. He goes somewhere that will coach him in an innovative way and give him what he had in San Francisco.

There are places that are great for quarterbacks and places that are terrible for quarterbacks. There are more good places than ever before, but there are still only a handful of great places.

Warner: Block out the noise

I’m happy for Sam’s success. I think it’s great that he’s in a place where they believe in him and it feels like he’s got a whole season to show us and that’s another good thing. That’s great because we’re all going to have a bad game or two in the middle of the season. But that’s what I think we need to see from Sam.

I am convinced that the other two (Mayfield and Carr) are starting quarterbacks and will play well in most cases. I am not yet convinced of that with Sam, although I know that he has the physical ability to do so.

Sam has had those moments where I’ve seen him play well for a while. I just haven’t seen it in a long time.

He started in New York. People say playing there is different and I think there is some truth in that. The more noise there is, the more things there are out there where people are talking, the more you hear and the more pressure you feel.

In the smaller markets where they don’t want to go, there aren’t a million sports teams and they haven’t always been successful…there’s more pressure to do it right (in the New York market). In the bigger cities, there are more voices. You have to be a little bit different to be able to handle that and put it all together.

Everett: Need talent on both sides

If you don’t have all the dominoes in a row and they’re not falling in the right direction, you’re in trouble. You could have the best system, be the best quarterback, but if you don’t have supporting talent, you don’t have a system.

I like Sam Darnold a lot, always have. I think ball security will be his enemy, but other than that he can make all the shots, he’s a tough guy, a worker. He’s not above anyone else. And his experience in San Francisco was invaluable because he was able to learn a system.

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You see a receiver like Justin Jefferson, he’s one of the best players in the league. Then the front office gives him a little time, you have a good plan and suddenly it’s like, “Wow, he’s successful.”

But what a lot of people miss is that he’s got a good enough defense up there that the pressure isn’t always on the quarterback. People don’t realize that. Look at Brock Purdy in San Francisco, for example. He doesn’t have to play outside of his game. He’s got a good defense that keeps him in the game.

When you have a bad defense, you start to push as a quarterback. It’s, “I need more touchdowns.” Sam isn’t in that situation, and neither is Derek Carr and Baker Mayfield. When you have a good defense, you don’t have to go too far out. That makes a big difference.

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This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.