For Sam Darnold, things are playing out exactly how New York Jets fans always dreamed they would when their team traded up to draft him third overall in 2018. Seven years later, here’s how the Jets’ golden boy is looking after his Sunday Night Football masterclass in Washington:

  • Leads the NFL in yards per pass attempt (9.6)
  • Has a 20-5 record over last 25 starts
  • Owns the sixth-best odds to win MVP, per DraftKings

There’s only one tiny problem: He’s doing it for the Seattle Seahawks, not the Jets.

For the second consecutive year, Jets fans have been forced to watch enviously from afar as Darnold lights the league on fire. Since 2024, Darnold is tied for the most wins among quarterbacks (20), while ranking third in passing yards (6,403) and fourth in passing touchdowns (51).

Darnold is fulfilling the potential Jets fans knew he had from the very start. Watching him fulfill it in a different uniform is a painful feeling, and media talking heads around the NFL are perpetually eager to reinforce that fact. Darnold can’t throw a checkdown without some blue checkmark on Twitter farming for likes by pointing out that he used to be on the Jets.

News flash: He also played for the Carolina Panthers, San Francisco 49ers, and Minnesota Vikings.

The Jets are just one of four teams that have given up on the NFL’s current leader in yards per pass attempt. Was their decision to dump him truly the most egregious of the bunch?

Let’s rank the four teams’ decisions not to retain Darnold from most to least excusable.

4. San Francisco 49ers

Coming off his two-year stint with the Carolina Panthers, Darnold was relegated to a high-tier backup role. In 2023, the 49ers signed him to a one-year, $4.5 million deal to back up Brock Purdy.

With Purdy enjoying a healthy season, Darnold was seldom needed in San Francisco, starting only the season finale when the 49ers rested their starters. He finished the season completing 28 of 46 passes for 297 yards, two touchdowns, and one interception, while taking six sacks for 40 yards. He added 15 rushing yards and one touchdown.

While Darnold didn’t receive enough opportunities to play himself back into a starting job, he earned a significant pay raise from his performance in San Francisco, netting a one-year, $10 million deal with the Vikings in 2024.

The 49ers deserve little to no criticism for letting Darnold walk. He was a backup, and his cost doubled compared to what they signed him for. Since they already had a franchise quarterback in Purdy, there was little motivation to get into a bidding war for a backup when Minnesota was more desperate for his services.

3. New York Jets

Yes, the Jets’ decision to dump Darnold is only the third-most egregious between his former teams.

Trading Darnold made plenty of sense at the time. He had failed to improve across three seasons with the team, and the Jets had an entirely new regime coming in (head coach, general manager, offensive coordinator) with a chance to choose between multiple highly graded quarterback prospects at No. 2 overall.

It made sense to net some assets for Darnold and hit the reset button with a fresh, unscarred rookie quarterback hand-picked by the new regime, who’d have the full extent of his contract to grow alongside a coaching staff that would be on the same timeline.

In retrospect, the package New York received for Darnold was outstanding. The Panthers gave up a 2021 sixth-rounder, 2022 second-rounder, and 2022 fourth-rounder. Compare that package to some of the recent trades involving former first-round quarterbacks being dealt by their original teams:

  • Justin Fields to Pittsburgh: 2025 sixth-round pick (could upgrade to fourth based on playing time; did not convey)
  • Baker Mayfield to Carolina: 2024 fifth-round pick (could upgrade to fourth based on playing time; did not convey)
  • Zach Wilson to Denver: Swapped 2024 seventh-round pick for 2024 sixth-round pick
  • Kenny Pickett to Philadelphia: 2025 seventh-round pick, 2025 seventh-round pick, and swapped 2024 fourth-round pick for 2024 third-round pick
  • Mac Jones to Jacksonville: 2024 sixth-round pick
  • Trey Lance to Dallas: 2024 fourth-round pick

The package netted by Darnold is an absolute robbery compared to these trades, especially considering Darnold was just as unproductive as all of those quarterbacks, if not more so.

It is often forgotten how badly Darnold regressed in the 2020 season, this being after he got off to an already shaky start over his first two seasons. That year, Darnold ranked dead last among qualified quarterbacks with a 72.7 passer rating. He completed under 60 percent of his passes and tossed nine touchdowns to 11 interceptions in 12 starts.

While Darnold had an awful supporting cast around him that year, from his coach (Adam Gase) to his receivers (the top weapons were Jamison Crowder and Breshad Perriman), Darnold was in a similarly poor situation over his first two years, and he wasn’t nearly as woeful. It seemed like Darnold had regressed beyond the point where he was worth betting on as a reclamation project.

Quarterbacks with Darnold’s track record through three seasons rarely work out. New York’s decision to deal him for a relatively excellent package was completely justifiable, especially considering they could move directly to his replacement with the second overall pick. The fact that New York bombed their decision with that pick doesn’t change the validity of the thought process behind moving on from Darnold.

2. Carolina Panthers

The Panthers deserve more criticism for moving on from Darnold than the Jets, since, unlike New York, Carolina saw glimpses of the quarterback Darnold is today. They had a much better opportunity to realize what they had.

Darnold’s first season in Charlotte did not go well. Despite a hot start, Darnold finished the 2021 campaign with a 71.9 passer rating, slightly worse than his 2020 performance in New York.

However, in 2022, Darnold began to show the first signs of his future breakout.

After losing the quarterback battle to Baker Mayfield, Darnold got his second chance in Carolina late in the season, following a poor start from Mayfield. Across six starts, Darnold played like an above-average starter, igniting the dormant team. He set career highs in yards per attempt (8.2), passer rating (92.6), and touchdown-to-interception ratio (7-to-3) while adding a pair of rushing touchdowns.

Among quarterbacks with at least 100 pass attempts in 2022, Darnold ranked fifth-best in net yards per pass attempt (7.1), right between Brock Purdy and Jared Goff. It was a legitimately impressive six-game sample of production, the best of his career by far.

Darnold inherited a 3-8 Panthers squad and led them to a 4-2 record to close the year. Behind Darnold, the Panthers averaged 23.3 points and 343.2 total yards per game, compared to their averages of 18.8 points and 286.1 yards before Darnold took over. His impact on the team was palpable.

Darnold, who entered the league as a 21-year-old rookie (he is still the youngest quarterback in history to start a season opener), was still just 25 after his late-season surge in 2022. Instead of giving Darnold a chance to build on his play, the Panthers elected to cough up a gargantuan package to move up to the No. 1 slot and select Bryce Young.

Carolina is still waiting for Young to come anywhere close to Darnold’s production in the 2022 season, or even a top-32 quarterback, for that matter. Young is averaging 5.7 yards per attempt this season, on track to be the worst mark by a third-year quarterback (min. 200 attempts) since Ryan Mallett’s 5.5 in 2015. The only other third-year quarterbacks to perform worse in the 21st century are John Skelton, Brady Quinn, JaMarcus Russell, and A.J. Feeley.

While both the Jets and Panthers could not have expected their Darnold replacements to perform as poorly as they have (Zach Wilson for the Jets, Young for the Panthers), the difference lies in the logic behind their decisions. New York had a sound thought process behind trading Darnold. Carolina was reckless.

The Panthers gave up one of the most lucrative trade packages in NFL history to move up and select Young: wide receiver D.J. Moore, a 2023 first-round pick (No. 9), a 2023 second-round pick (No. 61), a 2024 first-round pick, and a 2025 second-round pick. That would be astronomical for any prospect, let alone a prospect like Young, who was considered excellent, but nowhere close to Andrew Luck territory.

When the Jets moved on from Darnold, they netted assets by trading him and drafted his replacement without moving up. They also did not see a track record of high-quality production from Darnold that suggested he was worth keeping around.

Compare that to Carolina. The Panthers received nothing for Darnold and gave up a mountain of assets to draft his replacement, despite seeing a sustained run of impressive play from him to close the 2022 season.

Darnold ended up signing a one-year, $4.5 million contract with San Francisco in the 2023 offseason. The Panthers could have brought Darnold back on that cheap contract instead of selling the farm for Young.

Contrary to claiming the Jets should have kept Darnold instead of drafting Zach Wilson, the argument that Carolina should have kept Darnold was viable at the time, as Darnold had just provided them with strong play. Their alternative choice, the Young trade, was already widely viewed as absurd at the time, whereas the consensus viewed the Jets’ decision to draft Wilson as a reasonable choice. There is no hindsight required to criticize the Panthers’ thought process, and that is what sets their mistake apart from the Jets.

Carolina’s decision to hop off the Darnold train is much more comical than the Jets’. One team made a smart decision and just whiffed on the ensuing draft pick, while the other committed organizational malpractice.

1. Minnesota Vikings

It’s a toss-up between Minnesota and Carolina for the No. 1 spot; the Jets come nowhere close to either team.

For me, though, Minnesota takes the Darnold non-believer cake for one reason: They witnessed a full season of Darnold at his peak.

Carolina only saw six games of high-quality play from Darnold, which came after a full season of struggles. It’s more understandable that they did not want to buy into Darnold’s flashes.

But the Vikings saw Darnold put together a full season of high-level success.

Darnold’s 2024 season is one of the best in history for a Vikings quarterback. It is tied for second in passing touchdowns (35), ranks third in passing yards (4,319), and, most importantly, set the franchise record for wins (14). Darnold was one of the best quarterbacks in football, ranking top-five in each of those categories with top-notch efficiency to boot (102.5 passer rating, 7.9 yards per attempt, 6.7 net yards per attempt).

It all went up in flames when Darnold played his worst ball at the worst time, struggling across a Week 18 game for the division crown and the ensuing wild card game. That shouldn’t override an elite 18-game body of work from Darnold in Kevin O’Connell’s system.

Whether Darnold’s production was his own doing or a byproduct of O’Connell and the Justin Jefferson-led supporting cast, it has the same effect on winning football games either way. A touchdown is a touchdown, whether it was a dump-off thrown by a game manager like Brock Purdy or a behind-the-back 360-degree left-handed throw by Josh Allen. It’s a risky game to treat that type of season as easily replaceable.

Quarterback is the most important position in football. When you have a quarterback who puts up the numbers that Darnold did last year, you shouldn’t let him enter another franchise’s building.

That’s exactly what the Vikings did.

Minnesota allowed Darnold to walk to Seattle on a relatively affordable three-year, $100.5 million deal with only $55 million guaranteed. The Vikings were willing to let him go because they had J.J. McCarthy, their 2024 first-round pick, waiting in the wings.

This is a gamble Minnesota could end up dearly regretting if McCarthy does not end up being a gem of a pick.

The odds are slim that any drafted quarterback will ever reach a season as good as Darnold’s 2024 campaign, let alone one who is coming off a torn meniscus and was the QB5 in his class. It was arrogant of the Vikings to pretend that McCarthy could step right in and do what Darnold did in the same envrionment.

If Darnold wound up walking for Trevor Lawrence money, the Vikings would deserve more slack for their decision to part ways. But for a starting quarterback in his prime who threw 35 touchdowns last year, Darnold’s contract with the Seahawks is a bargain. His $33.5 million salary is 18th at the position, and his $55 million in total guarantees are 17th.

Darnold’s contract is essentially a two-year commitment with an out after the second season. The Vikings could have kept Darnold at an affordable cost while allowing McCarthy to recover and develop at his own pace as Darnold’s backup. They should have learned from their most despised division rivals what a few years of learning can do for a young quarterback.

Instead, they gambled that they could save the money for Darnold and get the same or better production out of McCarthy. So far, that isn’t going too hot. McCarthy has continued to struggle with injuries coming off his meniscus tear, missing five games, and when on the field, his 73.0 passer rating is better than only Jake Browning and Cam Ward among qualifiers.

While the Vikings are coming off a big win in Detroit, they are still just 4-4 in a deep NFC, seemingly squandering the championship window that opened last year. Over the long term, they’ll just have to pray McCarthy can bring them back to the same type of window they had with Darnold last year.

It’s only three starts for McCarthy, so he deserves time to figure things out. But as Darnold continues shining in Seattle while the Vikings slog through the struggles of McCarthy and Carson Wentz, it goes to show that Minnesota was arrogant for thinking that their system deserved more credit for Darnold’s breakout than Darnold himself.

If you have a great quarterback, keep him in the building. If you have a great quarterback and a promising young quarterback, keep them both. There’s no harm in that.

The Vikings thought they could have their cake and eat it too. We’ll see how it plays out in the long run, but either way, their decision to dump Darnold is easily the most inexcusable because they are the only team that had this version of Darnold in the palms of their hands. Yet, they still tossed him away just as eagerly as the Jets and Panthers did when he was nowhere near as developed.