thelesterlee
Sam Darnold came into NFL Wild Card Weekend looking to make a statement—to let everyone know that he’s a legit game-changing quarterback who deserves to be paid accordingly in the offseason.
The Minnesota Vikings even caught a break as the game was relocated from the Rams home stadium to a neutral site thanks to the wildfires caused by whatever is your own personal grievance with the world. Whether it be climate change or the deep state or woke DEI (still not even sure what that even is) or homeless people—the LA wildfires are a Rorschach test for schizophrenics.
But anyway yea, Sam Darnold had to let the world know he wasn’t riding the Vikings coattails, but instead, he was the engine making the whole Minnesota thing work.
How to fumble away $160 Million Dollars: a Sam Darnold story
— NFL Notifications (@NFLNotify) January 14, 2025
The Rams dominated the Vikings, beating them 27-9 and making Sam Darnold look like he was back wearing a New York Jets jersey.
Here’s what Darnold did in Minnesota’s embarrassing loss to the Rams:
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- 25-for-40 passing
- 245 passing yards
- 1 touchdown
- 1 interception
- 1 fumble
- sacked 9 times
- 13.6 QBR
Sam Darnold might have cost himself an extra $100million with this INT #RamsHouse🐏#Skol⚔️#NFL🏈#NFLplayoffs🏆pic.twitter.com/WoEZPGl6gk
— Rip (@Gambling400) January 14, 2025
Darnold now enters free agency coming off one of the biggest stinkers of the season.
Will Sam Darnold even be an NFL quarterback next season?
Everyone is totally right when they say Sam Darnold cost himself millions on Monday night with a loss to the Rams.
Not one person is exaggerating or overreacting or misreading the QB market.
You cannot lose a playoff game to Sean McVay—one of the greatest football coaches on planet Earth—and still expect a big contract to come your way.
Sure, Darnold threw for 4,319 yards (5th in the NFL) with 35 touchdowns (5th in the NFL).
No team would dare throw a single penny at Darnold because he lost a singular game, regardless of how much he dominated the regular season.
I’d be shocked if Darnold was even on a roster next season. He lost a playoff game, after all.
Who cares that Dak Prescott literally just lost in the Wild Card round last season and was rewarded with the highest salary in NFL history?
Or if Tua Tagovailoa and Justin Herbert have never won a single playoff game but both make $53 million a year.
Kyler Murray has never had a regular season as good as what Sam Darnold just did and Murray made $46 million this year.
But unfortunately, that was the old NFL.
This is a brand new league where Sam Darnold will be the first quarterback in NFL history to be a legit MVP candidate one year and refreshing Indeed the next because of one lackluster playoff performance against a Super Bowl-winning coach.
What team would be dumb enough to sign Sam Darnold?
If Darnold isn’t great enough to overcome getting sacked 9 times and hit 12 times as the Rams surrounded him the moment he snapped the ball, then what’s even the point of bringing him onto your team?
He’s proven, despite a 17-game sample size saying otherwise, that he simply isn’t good enough to win the big game.
Fortunately, the Minnesota Vikings drafted quarterback JJ McCarthy in the first round last year so they can quietly transition to their new young stud and everyone across the league would understand.
Perhaps the Indianapolis Colts or Las Vegas Raiders could give Darnold a shot on their practice squads next year but man, Sam was about to become the king of a city.
If only he didn’t lose that one game this week after leading the Vikings to 14 wins in a league where teams are scratching and clawing to win, like, 6 games.
It’s such a shame. Darnold was about to sign a bigger contract than Juan Soto with the New York Mets.
All the stars were aligned.
But instead, he’ll most likely be working here at Deadseriousness for pennies because he had one bad game.
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