In the unlikely event that the entire New York Jets fanbase wasn’t rooting for Sam Darnold in Super Bowl LX, any thought of that has since been squashed.
The former Jets quarterback, who’s set to take on Mike Vrabel’s New England Patriots for all the marbles, took the highest of roads when asked about his previous — and incredibly frustrating — NFL stops.
Darnold joined The Dan Patrick Show on Friday while keeping it classy about the Jets.
“The days in New York, the days in Carolina – those were part of my journey, and they’re part of my experience – and I loved every single part of it,” Darnold said.
Darnold, 28, started by explaining that he handles tough times a little differently these days than earlier in his career.
“Just being able to handle it, at this point in my career, too, even mentally, I feel like I handle it differently, internally, than I used to,” Darnold stated. “I realize that it is a part of the journey, and it is a part of who I am.”
When poked by Patrick to explain what it was like in the more frustrating days, Darnold’s answer was quite revealing.
“I think, like, I gave it a little more thought than I had to,” Darnold said. “I paid a little more attention to it. I guess I invested a little more thought into what happened in the. past. ‘Ok, I threw this pick against this coverage, back in 2019, [so, I would tell myself], I’m not going to do that again.’
“It’s like, ‘No, sometimes mistakes happen.'”
This is such a revealing answer for Jets fans. Perhaps Darnold’s greatest issue in New Jersey was his tendency to overthink. We broke it down constantly on film.
Rarely could he move on from a mistake or rub off the slightest of negative plays. At the end of the day, the organization’s coaching failed him.
Fortunately for Darnold, he went to the right place at the right time in his career, and he took a step back while learning from the right man. San Francisco 49ers’ head coach Kyle Shanahan isn’t just a tremendous offensive architect and quarterbacks coach; he also acutely understands the psychology of the position.
Shanahan has allowed his thoughts to enter the public domain a time or two, and those who pay attention (and/or coach the game) understand exactly what he means when he speaks in a quarterback’s language.
As Andy Reid’s famous quarterback bible states (paraphrasing), “Try to limit turnovers, but never be afraid to make a mistake.”
Jets fans will certainly be rooting for Sam Darnold in Super Bowl LX when they take on the hated New England Patriots. Hopefully, for those same New York Jets fans, their current coaching staff, led by Aaron Glenn, can flip the mentality to suit today’s version of football.
If they do, we’d recognize it immediately. Unlike Justin Fields, who was frightened to make mistakes this past season, the Jets’ 2026 quarterback will play with much more mental freedom — just as Sam Darnold currently is under Klint Kubiak and Mike Macdonald.
