This season, the Minnesota Vikings have already seen multiple first-year players face their old teams. Against the Houston Texans, edge rusher Jonathan Greenard, inside linebackers Blake Cashman and Kamu Grugier-Hill and cornerback Shaquill Griffin faced their former squad and running back Aaron Jones did so when the Vikings visited Lambeau Field last Sunday.
The Vikings have one more such game before the bye week when quarterback Sam Darnold gets to play the team that drafted him in the New York Jets. It's not the first time he's faced them, as he did when he was a member of the Carolina Panthers.
Sam Darnold isn't concerned with playing his former team
While many in the media believe it's a story seeing Darnold play his former team, you wouldn't think it means anything to the former Jets third overall pick from 2018. Darnold was asked at his media availability in London on Friday about having any thoughts of revenge nad he shot it down pretty quickly.
"I wouldn't say so. I think, you know, being pretty far removed from, you know, the Jets organization and being just, you know, a few years removed from it, you know, obviously I still know a few players over there. But yeah, I think just, you know, being able to see those guys is going to be, is going to be good, and to see some of the, you know, the equipment guys and some of the you know people that I've dealt with behind the scenes over there will be good to see them. But other than that, for me, it's just, you know, another really good opportunity to play, play solid football."
It's a fair question to ask. The Jets drafted Darnold third overall then traded him after just three seasons as their quarterback. It would be easy for him to blame the Jets or harbor any resentment toward them, but he doesn't at all.
An incredibly mature response from Darnold but it's important to understand the context of the question. Last week, head coach Kevin O'Connell did an interview with Rich Eisen on his podcast and talked about how young quarterbacks can be failed by their organization.
"Yeah, first and foremost, Rich. I don't believe that there's one particular way to do it when to or over a young quarterback. I think you treat each individual day once you once you identify the guy, regardless of of what you may think, everything gets activated when they walk in, you better have a plan. You better have a plan for development. You better have a plan to maximize the time that you get with that player. And it doesn't always equal sitting, it doesn't always equal playing from day one, but I feel it's very important that people have an understanding of this position, the unique intricacies of how you need to play, how you need to respond when you inevitably get punched in the mouth in this league, is the quarterback position. Why it's the hardest position in all sports is because the entire team experiences your adversity right alongside with you, but it's also impacted by it, so your ability to respond, your ability to get back to all those little things that you either demonstrated early on you're ready to do consistently, regardless of circumstance, or over a period of time, where you're kind of solidifying all those things within you. And no guy comes out of college the same these days, how they see the field, what you're going to try to teach them from a standpoint of your progressions, and I just think as a whole, there's not enough emphasis put on the organization's role in the development of the position. Meaning, I do believe this. I believe that organizations fail young quarterbacks before young quarterbacks fail organizations. And that's not there's no specific example in my mind that I could give you of a team or a quarterback just overall 30,000 foot view.
"I think it's important to understand that every single one of these guys is on a journey, a very difficult journey, that they need the support, they need the teammates around them. They need the systems in place to ultimately try to maximize who they are and what their potential is, because you're still drafting players rich off of potential. And then everything that happens from that moment to when that potential becomes is really on the organization, if you've got the right guy that you're bringing in. And then in regards to, you know, I do believe there's some times where things just don't work out, and then getting a chance to kind of wipe the slate clean and get a restart, while still using your previous experiences to kind of shape you know how you're going to work, why you're going to work, why things are important to you, will only make guys better in the end, and I've seen some examples of that in our league as well over the last few years."
Darnold is another proof of concept that talent can still be harnessed years later with success, especially after winning the NFC Offensive Player of the Month award. There may not be revenge on Darnold's mind this Sunday, but his focus on being great for the Vikings this season should propel the Vikings to victory on Sunday at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, England.
