EAGAN, Minn. – Ask anyone on the Minnesota Vikings about Sam Darnold and you’ll probably get a similar answer.

“One thing he did do,” said offensive coordinator Wes Phillips, “he came out and was able to throw the football extremely well.”

“This guy makes some good shots,” said defensive coordinator Brian Flores.

“Sam,” running back Aaron Jones said, “can get the hang of it. He can really get the hang of it.”

“He’s a gunslinger,” said receiver Brandon Powell. “He has a certain swing on the ball.”

Darnold’s talent in the shooting zone earned him the No. 3 overall pick in the 2018 draft by the New York Jets, and it was on full display this summer when he took nearly every first-team snap at the Vikings’ training camp. Flores, for one, has sometimes counseled defenders to accept that they’ve been beaten on throws that “not many guys” can make.

Few Vikings coaches and players had seen Darnold throw in person before he signed the contract in March, which explains some of their instinctive reactions. But quarterbacks coach Josh McCown, Darnold’s teammate on the Jets, suspects their reactions were heightened by seeing him with a level of experience and confidence that allowed him to “max out” his arm strength at the baseline.

Darnold showed off his throwing arm without fear, whether it was a 50-yard pass to receiver Justin Jefferson on the first day of training camp or a 26-yard pass over a linebacker to receiver Jalen Nailor in a preseason game.

I’m already airing it 🎯@JJettas2 pic.twitter.com/MyTvk5a4sC

— Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) July 25, 2024

Those moments raised hopes that the Vikings can overcome a season-ending injury to rookie quarterback JJ McCarthy — who likely would have taken over the job at some point during the regular season — and defy projections of a last-place finish in the NFC North, where they have the highest odds (+900), according to ESPN BET.

There’s no doubt that Darnold has been one of the NFL’s weakest quarterbacks over the past six seasons, but Vikings players and coaches now know why he’ll get another chance when their 2024 season begins Sunday at the New York Giants (1 p.m. ET, Fox).

“I feel like he’s going to prove a lot of people wrong,” Jones said, “and show what kind of quarterback he really is with this opportunity. All of my quarterbacks that I’ve had have had a clean slate. It’s about proving yourself and showing what you can do now. It’s not about what you’ve done in the past. It’s about the now. So I really believe in him.

“We had the chance to work and play with him. He is a very special talent. … A lot of people underestimate him.”

Smiling, Jones lowered his voice and added: “Early favorite for comeback (player) of the year.”

Still, a return to reality seems in order. Darnold is one of 26 NFL quarterbacks to have started at least 50 games since the beginning of the 2018 season, when he secured the Jets’ top job as a rookie after training camp. His total quarterback rating (QBR) during that time is 42, the worst in that group.

While adopting coach Kevin O’Connell’s version of the West Coast Offense, which former starter Kirk Cousins ​​said he learned in his first season in the system (2022), Darnold was inaccurate on some close-range throws. On other occasions, he appeared nervous as he scanned the field for options, a reminder that he averaged 2.26 sacks per game in his career, the 11th-highest among those 26 quarterbacks since 2018.

And sometimes he made regrettable throws. During an Aug. 12 practice, Darnold didn’t seem to notice that linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel had slipped into the flat on a quick pass to Jefferson, leading to an interception that Van Ginkel returned for a touchdown.

Darnold bent over with his arms on his knees immediately after the throw, the same type of play that ultimately doomed him during his time with the Jets from 2018 to 2020 and later with the Carolina Panthers (2021-22). He has thrown nearly as many interceptions (56) as touchdown passes (63) in his career, and his TD-INT ratio of 1.1 is the worst among those 26 quarterbacks since 2018. His overall average of 1.06 turnovers per game is the fourth-worst.

This data is a reminder that Darnold isn’t setting high standards for the best season of his career in 2024. Without specifically addressing Darnold’s turnover history, O’Connell has repeatedly talked about the value of making good decisions when defenders win in coverage. “Survive the down” is a phrase O’Connell uses to describe the benefits of checkdowns, throwaways and scrambles compared to forcing the ball into predetermined spots.

“And if there was any setback or misjudgment in this camp,” McCown said, “he was the same guy the next time he played. And that’s the reality of our league. It’s a mental exercise to get over that hurdle, get back on the floor and play the position again. That’s critical, and we’ve seen him do that at such a high level.”

Darnold did this in practice and had to face one of the most relentless and unpredictable defensive schemes in the NFL, which made things even more complex.

“We offer a lot of different opportunities,” defensive end Harrison Phillips said. “And I can see the mental gymnastics that he’s constantly working on, and when he gets mad at himself when he guesses wrong, to see what we have in front of us and give his offense the best checks possible. We throw everything we have at him, so it’s been good to see how he responds to that bell, game after game, period after period, practice after practice. We might get him one game, but he gets us the next. I think that’s been cool to see.”

At least anecdotally, some of Darnold’s best throws of the summer were also his longest. The speed and skill of Jefferson and fellow receiver Jordan Addison can make up for some imperfectly placed balls, but overall, Darnold’s precision belies his career.

Darnold has favored the long ball throughout his time in the NFL, completing 11.9% of his attempts at least 20 yards, the seventh-highest rate of any qualified quarterback during that time. For comparison, Cousins’ rate in O’Connell’s offense was 8.3%, 35th among all quarterbacks since the start of the 2022 season.

Even if he doesn’t run the Vikings’ offense as well as Cousins, Darnold could potentially add an explosive element. But he has spent the summer politely holding back from long-term predictions. Last month, he said he’s trying to avoid “worrying about the wrong things at the wrong time,” and if he sees this season as a chance to revive his career, he won’t say so publicly.

“As a young player,” he said, “you can certainly get excited about what the future might bring or how things might look. But at the end of the day, you have to keep going. And this sport, this position, is hard enough. If you start worrying about the wrong things, it’s going to come back to haunt you.”