Despite a 2-0 start and a hot start from Sam Darnold, not everyone is buying the Minnesota Vikings through two weeks. And mostly, that starts with former top-five pick Sam Darnold.
Jeff Howe, with The Athletic, updated his quarterback rankings for the past two weeks. While Darnold bumped up in his rankings, he still isn’t highly viewed. He was 23rd last week and has moved up to No. 19 this week.
Howe admits Darnold supporters could gripe about his low ranking, but Howe needs to see more than a two-game sample size from Darnold. He has never lived up to the hype of USC and wants to see if he can continue this play in Minnesota.
“Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell runs a quarterback-friendly offense, and wide receiver Justin Jefferson makes everyone around him better at their jobs — 20.4 percent of Darnold’s passing yards this season occurred on one throw to Jefferson on Sunday, after all. Darnold appears to be set up for success more than at any other point in his career, and it wouldn’t be too difficult to argue Darnold is off to a better start than some of the quarterbacks who have ranked ahead of him.”
So why the low ranking? It’s still too small of a sample for a QB who has shown flashes like this at various points in his career, notably during a solid 3-0 start with the Panthers in 2021 before it all came crashing down.
“If Darnold sustains this pace, he’ll rise up the rankings.”
Through two games, Darnold has completed 72% of his throws for 476 yards. He has also tossed four touchdown passes and two interceptions.
