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For the teams, the reality of the Super Bowl hits like deja vu: a ritual they’ve watched and fantasized about for years suddenly arrives, sucking them into its vast, chaotic center.
For Sam Darnold, though, it’s a reality come full circle. San Francisco, after all, was the city that gave him a chance after he crashed and burned in New York and washed out in Carolina, long after most around the NFL had consigned him to history’s pile of first-round draft busts.
As part of the 49ers two years ago, Darnold watched from the sideline as the team’s starter, Brock Purdy, fell short of leading San Francisco past Kansas City. But he had done enough in relief appearances to get picked up by Minnesota, where he had an unlikely bounce-back year before joining the Seattle Seahawks. Now, the Orange County native stands on the verge of closing his redemption arc in Sunday’s Super Bowl against the New England Patriots – an outcome most had long since given up on. “I grew up watching a ton of great football players and teams get to this moment and make great plays,” Darnold said earlier this week. “I was always emulating those plays in my yard with friends. I always dreamed of moments like this.”
New York Jets fans, too, dared to dream about returning to the Super Bowl in the lead-up to the 2018 NFL draft. Darnold’s gunslinging style and knack for making plays in chaotic situations at USC drew comparisons to Brett Favre, yet he slid to third overall because of the Browns’ recency bias for Heisman winner Baker Mayfield and the Giants’ long-term commitment to Eli Manning. “Suck for Sam”, the fans’ rallying cry the previous season, had been an unqualified triumph.
Darnold had a respectable rookie season under head coach Todd Bowles, but Jets brass decided the QB would be better served by an offensive mind and hired the Miami Dolphins’ Adam Gase. But Gase’s rigid schemes and erratic play-calling only exacerbated Darnold’s raw mechanics, reducing him to fleeing defenders only he seemed to see. In 2020 Darnold posted the league’s worst completion percentage and failed to surpass 240 yards in any of his 12 starts, as the Jets managed just two wins all season. Fans went from sucking for Sam to sucking with him, turning a Monday Night Football graphic of Darnold’s 2019 mononucleosis absence into a tragic meme.
In 2021 the Panthers traded for Darnold, but a slight improvement in play wasn’t enough to keep him from being benched over the ensuing seasons, first for a fading Cam Newton, then for Baker Mayfield – fresh off his own departure from Cleveland. Darnold was eventually cut loose in 2023 to make way for top pick Bryce Young.
Staring at the possible end of his road in the NFL, Darnold landed in San Francisco on a modest one-year deal and was immediately thrown into a camp competition with Purdy and Trey Lance. He impressed early enough that some reporters wondered whether he might actually beat out Purdy, who was still working his way back from an elbow injury. Purdy eventually shook off the rust and locked down the starting job, but Darnold’s successful overtake of Lance, a former first-round pick himself, for the backup role was viewed as a significant step forward.
In the lead-up to this year’s Super Bowl, the 28-year-old has repeatedly credited 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan with saving his career and rehabbing his game. “To have Kyle as a coach, to hear him talk about football during OTAs and training camp, when we had a ton of time with him as quarterbacks – I soaked in all of those moments,” Darnold said. “He talked about football in a way I had really never heard before.” San Francisco was also where Darnold began working with passing game coordinator Klint Kubiak, a partnership that has since been rekindled in Seattle. “He’s very honest and forthcoming,” Darnold said of the Seahawks offensive coordinator. “Myself and a lot of the guys really appreciate that about him.”
After watching Purdy tighten his grip on the 49ers’ starting job during San Francisco’s Super Bowl run in the 2023 season, Darnold signed another prove-it deal with Minnesota and quickly emerged as one of the league’s best quarterbacks, racking up career highs in completion percentage (66%), passing yards (4,319) and touchdowns (35) while leading the Vikings into the playoffs – a breakout that stunned everyone who had once written him off. Darnold had hoped to remain in Minnesota and continue his progress. But the Vikings’ faith in him took a hit when he reverted to form in Minnesota’s NFC divisional clash against the Los Angeles Rams, a blowout loss that raised new questions about Darnold’s mental toughness in big games. In the end the Vikings let him walk and committed to first-round draft choice JJ McCarthy. Ask them how that’s going.
Minnesota’s loss became Seattle’s gain. Last March the Seahawks signed Darnold to a three-year deal with $55m guaranteed – far more than his skeptics believed he was worth. After seeing him confidently lead Seattle to the top of the NFC and a Super Bowl appearance with near flawless play, those critics would be hard pressed to deny the move has paid off. “What a journey,” said Patriots quarterback Drake Maye of his opposite number. “What a career he’s had, just to battle the life of the NFL. He’s battled not playing for years, and being the backup to getting his chance and just making the most of it. It’s been awesome to see.”
During Super Bowl week, reporters from Darnold’s past NFL stops made a point of wishing him well on behalf of the fanbases that had once considered him such a disappointment. He would certainly be within his rights to use his success to highlight the failings of his former teams. But for this full-circle journey, Darnold stays on the high road. “Every experience is its own,” he said, reflecting on the bumps that led to this point. “I knew I could do this at a high level, and that’s what kept me going. I knew at some point an opportunity would arise.”
And he had seen it all before, of course.
