Correct his maddening habits of throwing without stepping into it where there is no need to and not taking the easy yards on offer in favour of a risky throw and he's not far off being there. An improved OL should help a lot. He will always make the odd, maddening wtf throw, but I don't think you want to try and make him into a glorified game manager and try and get him to avoid all risks. He has the ability to make things happen and you don't want to take that away completely.
Big year for him next year. After the 2 years i would say his potential is to be somewhere between 8-12 in QB rankings and that is good enough to win with. They dont have the coach and talent around him to raise him to a Pro Bowl level and its prob to late now.
I think Darnold can be their Franchise QB but I just don't see him being a top 10 elite level QB. When you watch guys like Brees, Russell Wilson you can see just how much better their decision making is than Sam even when under pressure. Look at last nights Seahawks / 49ers game, Wilson was under pressure all night yet continually made good decisions. You throw Sam in there against that D (which we will get to see next year) and he crumbles. Even with more reps, game experience and a better O-line I still don't see Sam being able to overcome a D like that. That doesn't mean he isn't a franchsie QB, I just don't think he'll wind up as an elite level QB.
There is absolutely no question that Sam is our franchise QB. The question is can he become an elite QB consistently for 16 games?
I see people comparing him to Stafford and I don't see that comparison whatsoever. If you mean in terms of upside? Okay sure, but his game is nothing like that of Staffords. Sam reminds me way more of Romo or Ben then anyone else. Ben has made a career of extending plays and hitting a WR who initially runs an underneath route who goes deep during a scramble drill or a WR who runs a deep route and comes back underneath. That is literally what Sam excels at - The play breaking down and hitting guys in a scramble drill when the defense is broken down and in chaos. The way its going right now though, Sam is getting the ball and running for his life. There is no time to actually make his reads and proceed to move out of the pocket.
He's also a lot younger out of college too. Remember that. Those colts teams he "carried" were not that awful. Defense still has to make stops. That team got worse when they started neglecting the line because of the team success Sent from my SM-N975U using Tapatalk
Agreed. A four yard gain on a flat pattern on first down is a win. If the receiver gains leverage off the snap, Sam needs to throw it and not think twice about it. With defensive backs unable to sneeze on receivers it also creates the ability for them to make a man miss for a bigger gain. It reminds me a lot of how Wentz has played this year too. Not wanting to check it down or throw it underneath until it's literally the last possible option and it becomes covered. And you're right. Throwing off his back foot with a good pocket is frustrating. I don't think he's ever going to be a technician with great foot work and that's ok. But he needs better fundamentals at times. It'd create better accuracy for him.
I wonder if the lack of improvements in his footwork is attributed to the fact that we don't actually have a QB coach on the staff.
I agree. I think Darnold can be a franchise QB, but not on this team. While the idea of building around Darnold is a wise one, the execution up to this point has been horrible. Between the lack of focusing on offensive linemen in the offseason and Gase not using him properly until midway through the season (and he still kinda stunk the last 2 games), I dont believe this organization will get it right. Going 7-9 is fools gold and Chris Johnson keeping Gase another season means he is willing to throw away yet another season of Darnolds growth.
I mean everyone likes to rail on Dowell Loggains because he's a smurf looking dude but he's coached quarterbacks for a decade in the NFL. It's not like the position is neglected. I don't know how practices are run though so I'm not sure whether there is or isn't enough emphasis done on footwork. I'd have to imagine there is, since he starts with his feet parallel to the LOS now vs. Last year.
This would be done in camp though. Do they have any time to do any significant work on this sort of thing during the season with the limited amount of practice time? I doubt there is very much available really.
Who do you have to impeach around here if you don’t like the outcome of the voting? It’s his second year. His numbers are worse than every rookie QB and former Jets QBs Ryan Fitzpatrick and Teddy Bridgewater.
Sorry, i didnt mean like that. I mean its safe to say he will not be a ALL PRO** ( Aaron Rodgers, Pat Mahomes, ETC*)
I voted likely yes. But here is the thing that worries me. I wont be going into next season with the same hope/expectations about him that I entered this season with. So I must be losing some confidence in him. Hopefully, he improves and gets help. But I wont spend a third season making excuses for him when he plays questionable. The grace period for excuses is over.
It took Brees a few years to become Brees and Wilson was a game manger his first few years. Let's just give Sam another year and see how it all plays out Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk
