Sam Darnold's storybook season began to unravel in Week 18 and came completely apart in the Minnesota Vikings' playoff loss to the Los Angeles Rams on Monday night. Much of that had to do with the intense pressure suddenly dialed up against him and the Vikings' offensive line not being able to withstand it. Still, it's a disappointing end to what had been one of the more surprising developments in the NFL this season.
Darnold will now wait to see which team wants to pay him most handsomely on the hope that he can replicate the breakout performance. And the work begins by pundits to properly contextualize a journeyman who finally unlocked something but ultimately has little to show for it.
Colin Cowherd took a stab at that job on his show Tuesday, landing on another NFC signal-caller that seems to play great until the brightest lights are engaged.
"Sam Darnold actually had a very Dak Prescott-like season," Cowherd said. "Won a lot of games, everybody loves him, players rally around him, coaches love coaching him and then he faces elite competition and it doesn't look the same."
.@ColinCowherd compares Sam Darnold's season to Dak Prescott:
— Herd w/Colin Cowherd (@TheHerd) January 14, 2025
"Won a lot of games, everybody likes him, players rally around him, coaches love him... And then he faces elite competition and it doesn't look the same." pic.twitter.com/E6RN28s9tA
Darnold beat every team he played this season except the Rams and the Detroit Lions. Those two combined to beat him in back-to-back weeks twice.
"Sam Darnold, like Dak Prescott, you put up a 88-mph fastball, he's going to hit it out of the park," Cowherd continued. "He's got trouble hitting Kershaw in his prime's curveball. He's not going to beat the great teams unless he's got really good protection, a perfect game plan."
This is a classic good news/bad news situation for Darnold. Ninety percent of the league is not like the Lions or Rams. But part of the calculus when it comes to paying top dollar for quarterbacks is how they fare against the very top of the NFL. Prescott was able to parlay his regular seasons into $60 million per year. What Darnold will be able to grab will tell everyone how much the market has changed—or hasn't—for a quarterback like that.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Colin Cowherd Makes His Case for Why Sam Darnold Is Like Cowboys' Dak Prescott.
