Former New York Giants first-round pick Justin Pugh believes it’s a possibility that Sam Darnold makes his return to New York.
The former No. 3 overall pick has emerged as one of the top quarterbacks in the NFL in his first season with the Minnesota Vikings. The 27-year-old ranks within the top six in touchdowns, passing yards and passer rating and has also led four game-winning drives — the second-most in the NFL this season.
However, he may be pricing himself out of a return to Minnesota as he’ll project as the top quarterback in free agency next year. Pugh mentions the possibility of Darnold signing with his former team, the Giants, or even a return to the New York Jets as they shift into a post-Aaron Rodgers era.
“I don’t know where Sam Darnold ends up, he could be back with the Jets,” Pugh says in a one-on-one interview. “The Jets are going to get a quarterback probably next year. He could come to the Giants,”
The Vikings have actually signed Pugh’s former teammate and quarterback, Daniel Jones, who was a part of the same draft class as Darnold. Pugh mentions how Jones was signed with the purpose of filling the role that Darnold was signed to fill before the start of this season as competition to rookie J.J. McCarthy.
However, he makes sure to mention that McCarthy — the team’s first-round draft pick this year — will be the starter next year.
“Daniel Jones is there and that’s part of their plan,” says Pugh. “That’s the reason they brought him in. You signed Daniel Jones to almost fill the role that Sam Darnold was going to fill before the year started. He can go out there and he’s been a starting quarterback in the NFL. He knows the system, but J.J. McCarthy is going to be the starter for the Minnesota Vikings. People forget how good J.J. McCarthy looked in the preseason.”
Highlights of JJ McCarthy's preseason debut pic.twitter.com/ywRbZnSw6F
— Jake B 〽️ (@MichFootballBEL) August 11, 2024
The Vikings are off to an 11-2 start this season, one of the best marks in the NFL and only a game behind the 12-1 Detroit Lions, who have the best record in the league. One of the Vikings’ two losses was against the Lions.
While Minnesota has been one of the top teams in the NFL, Pugh still thinks they’re the third-best team in the NFC North.
“When I think the Minnesota Vikings are going to go far in the playoffs this year, I would say no, but they continue to prove me wrong, week in and week out,” says Pugh. “They haven’t played the stiffest competition, they’ve yet to beat a team with a record over .500 besides a couple teams. You can look at their strength of schedule, you have to play who you have to play — but they’re not beating the best teams in the NFL, week in and week out. They play in the best division in football, I think they’re the third-best team in that division, I would take the Packers and the Lions if they were facing off against the Minnesota Vikings.”
On the other hand, one NFC team that Pugh is extremely high on is none other than the Los Angeles Rams. Although the Rams are technically a game behind the Seattle Seahawks for the division lead in the NFC West, they’re winners of two straight and coming off of a victory against the 10-3 Buffalo Bills. Pugh picks the Rams as his division winner as says they’re a scary team in the playoffs.
“I think the L.A. Rams win the NFC West,” says Pugh. “I think they’re one of those teams that if you sleep on them, they’re going to make a run. You’re going to see the L.A. Rams win their first playoff game. I do not want to play the L.A. Rams — Puka Nacua, Cooper Kupper, Kyren Williams, Matthew Stafford, offensive line. They don’t really have much of a weakness and that’s a scary team to play. They have the pedigree — Matthew Stafford can make every throw on the field. If you get a quarterback playing lights out at this time of the year, good luck.”
The Rams hold wins over not only the Bills, but the Seahawks and Vikings. Los Angeles will host Seattle in the season finale, a game that could very well decide the division.
Pugh even mentions the possibility of defensive tackle Aaron Donald coming out of retirement for one last playoff run.
“A team out of the NFC West that I would be scared to play right now is the L.A. Rams,” says Pugh. “They replace Aaron Donald with Jared Verse, Braden Fiske and two defensive linemen that are playing out of their minds. If the Rams make the playoffs, I think Aaron Donald comes back and plays and goes on a run. Why wouldn’t he? That dude can come straight off of the couch and be the best player in football tomorrow. I think they’re better than Seattle, I think Seattle ends up faltering a little bit.”
Nothin' but love for 9️⃣9️⃣ pic.twitter.com/OG4x2voI3A
— Los Angeles Rams (@RamsNFL) November 12, 2024
Another one of Pugh’s former teams, the Arizona Cardinals, have faltered in recent weeks. After entering Week 12 leading the division with a 6-4 mark, the Cardinals have now lost three straight games, including two to the Seahawks. That means in the case of a head-to-head tiebreaker, the Seahawks own that advantage over the Cardinals. Entering Week 15, Arizona currently has just a 9% chance of making it to the playoffs and Pugh believes they’re done.
“They’re going to be in trouble,” says the Cardinals’ chances of making it to the playoffs. “I had them making it to the playoffs, I thought they could sneak into the wild card. They could have won the division. Seattle after the bye week, not putting up any touchdowns was disheartening. I thought Kyler was playing MVP football leading up to that bye week and they lost the last three games and it’s really put them in a tough spot.”
Pugh stresses that the Cardinals need to get back to playing free and loose football. He acknowledges that Arizona will be a playoff threat moving forward, but that they need to upgrade on defense due to their lack of stars outside of Budda Baker.
“That’s where I think in the rebuild, that’s where they have to spend all their assets this year,” says Pugh. “I think they were a year early to the coming-out party. I think they’re building for the future there. I still believe they’re going to be a tough team to play going in. I am very bullish on where the Cardinals are heading. Kyler Murray is going to get this organization for the playoffs. They have all the right pieces. I see them spending a lot of money on the defensive line come this offseason and really revamping that defense.”
