In the last two seasons, former USC quarterback Sam Darnold finally reached his ceiling and played the way many thought he would when he left USC. He was an MVP candidate and is now a Super Bowl champion. Yet, Darnold is still one of the more underappreciated quarterbacks in the NFL.
In a recent article, Dalton Wasserman and Max Chadwick give their ranking of all 32 quarterbacks in the league, and Sam Darnold finishes right out of the top ten. Here is what they had to say about Darnold coming in at 14:
“Darnold turned in a second consecutive excellent season, leading the Seattle Seahawks to a Super Bowl victory over the New England Patriots. Including the postseason, Darnold set career highs with a 79.9 PFF passing grade and 8.3 yards per attempt. Any lingering reputation as a first-round bust should be erased after his performance over the past two seasons.
Darnold has excelled in two specific areas during his time in Minnesota and Seattle: play-action passing and deep passing. He has ranked among the top five quarterbacks in PFF play-action passing grade in each of the past two seasons. In 2025, he ranked fourth in PFF passing grade on throws of 20 or more air yards and was one of just three qualifying quarterbacks to complete at least 50% of those passes.”
Sam Darnold has elevated his play and killed old, tired narratives these past two seasons. He has been on two great teams that have had great seasons, but there is no doubt his play played a big part in that. Seattle’s defense was stifling last year, but the Seahawks don’t win a Super Bowl without Darnold playing well in big games. Darnold has earned more respect as of late, but he still has more to prove as he remains very underrated.
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This article originally appeared on Trojans Wire: Sam Darnold erased NFL bust narratives but still has more to prove
Reporting by Micah Huff, Trojans Wire / Trojans Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Micah Huff, Trojans Wire | USA TODAY Network
