Spent time watching all of Darnold's throws over the past three years. My conclusion...

[WOW!!]

27 minutes ago, MHS831 said:

Wasnt it Cosell who said something like, the system is critically important for any young QB? 

Darnold did not start playing QB until he was a Jr in High School.  Four years later, he is in the NFL with a bad coach, bad OC, bad team, etc.  expected to work miracles.

This was not a gamble--it is a low-cost, calculated risk--the kind of move that either propels you to greatness as a team, or you lose a second rounder in 2022.  No brainer.

My point exactly..

[SCO96]

I wasn't big on Darnold coming out, but I will admit that was partially due to my anti-USC QB bias. That said, even I realized he had enough physical tools make it in the NFL. 

He's had to carry quite a few burdens since leaving USC. 

1) Stigma of USC QB's

2) Pressure of being a highly drafted as a franchise QB

3) Going to one of the worst run franchises in the NFL 

4) Playing on what has been one of the least talented teams in the NFL for the past few years

5) Doing it all under the NY spotlight.

Now he's going to a team that he knows actually want him has to make him feel appreciated and more determined to prove his critics wrong. He has solid weapons around him at the skill positions. Carolina had a strong draft last year and we're positioned to do so again in 2021. He's going to get better coaching. He should be better from the change in scenery alone. Add in the fact that Carolina really doesn't receive a lot of media coverage , which should take away a lot of the stress of being in the NY spotlight, Darnold could be poised to have a breakout year.

I don't know if I would have had the nerve to make the move. But, we didn't give the up the house to get him, which is what we would have had to do to move up 4 or 5 spots to grab the more heralded QB's (none of whom are a lock for success in the NFL in the first couple of seasons).

Darnold is only 23. He has time to improve. Worse case scenario we continue to build a solid team on both sides of the ball cut bait with him in 2 years when the contract expires and find a franchise QB via the draft or free agency. 

Edited April 6, 2021 by SCO96

[TheProcess]

Must stop boneheaded turnovers. This makes it essential to build a good line in front of him so that he feels more comfortable/confidence. 

8 - Sewell/Slater

39 - Wyatt Davis

[frankw]

There is no conclusion to make yet. Anyone writing him off already may as well just step away from the table because you will only spend the next several months wallowing in misery and for what? We know the Panthers MO by now. No sense even getting worked up over this. We basically drafted a new quarterback who already has NFL experience. Darnold is as much boom or bust as trading up for a rookie but with significantly less investment overall.

[rippadonn]

Scares me a lot less than drafting Z.Wilson. 

Let bottom feeder organizations make that mistake over and over again.

They draft the hype and slowly ruin that player. Dump that #1-#5 pick and go on to draft that "next" QB and destroy his career little by little until he gets ousted for the drafts next "guy".

Mark Sanchez, Sam Darnold, Andy Dalton et al, will NEVER correct the Jets, Bengals, Dolphins, etc, who are continually fighting each other ever year for college footballs most hyped QB.

The Panthers have been in position for the #1, #2 very few times. We were able to surround those picks with weapons because of smart value and actual performance based drafting, yrds, YACs, sacks. When we added Julius Peppers and Cam Newton the results were instant and that's what kept the Panthers from being a bottom feeding organization.

Better to be middle to top of the pack than a failure for decades.

 

 

 

[Tbe]

There’s hope for Sam, but it’s going to take more than one off season to fix three seasons of habits. 
 

My fear is him showing enough promise that we keep him several years thinking “he’ll have a big leap forward next year”, but that leap never comes.

Sam will at least make me watch this season, but I have a feeling he’s going to be Kyle Allen 2.0.

[rippadonn]

1 hour ago, Zod said:

Spent some time watching all of Darnold's throws over the past three seasons. My thoughts - 

 

Pros - 

- Decent job buying time with his feet and throwing a strike. Excels when rolling out and just balling. 

- Decent arm strength. Not great, but good enough. 

- Solid pocket presence. Steps up well when pressured. Good feet. 

 

Cons - 

- Throws really bone headed interceptions. Just doesn't see defenders sometimes. 

- Confidence. You can just see it dwindle as the games go on. 

 

Conclusion

Doubtful he will ever be an elite QB, but he may be a good QB for a long ass time if the Panthers can coach him out of his bad habits and teach him how to watch film and gameplan for defenses. 

 

 

I went back to his college videos before the Jets. Quick feet. Questionable windows (gunslinger), sometimes he hits it though. Kinda like good Jake, bad Jake. Very good athlete, i  saw a good arm though. Takes chances. Like that.

[rippadonn]

15 minutes ago, Tbe said:

There’s hope for Sam, but it’s going to take more than one off season to fix three seasons of habits. 
 

My fear is him showing enough promise that we keep him several years thinking “he’ll have a big leap forward next year”, but that leap never comes.

Sam will at least make me watch this season, but I have a feeling he’s going to be Kyle Allen 2.0.

The above post I mentioned good Jake, bad Jake. People can say what ever but those Panthers battled and had they had a minute longer would/could have beat the "best team in football".

Is Darnold better than Jake? We'll see. Is the defense still whole and do we add to it? We'll see. If Darnold is better than Jake and we get a standout TE, yes, we can go back to the Superbowl. AGAIN.

[MasterAwesome]

All of Darnold's 1200+ throws over the past three years?  I'm assuming you mean like two YouTube analysis/breakdown videos, right?

[*FreeFua*]

1 hour ago, trueblade said:

Good thread of plays by Edgar Salmingo on Twitter.

I'd highlight this one in particular. Easy flick of the wrist to launch the ball downfield. That's an NFL arm.

 

Most guys who do breakdowns will tell you the good plays he makes are special. They’re right. There are a lot of QB’s that are not physically capable of doing some of the stuff you see in these clips. 
 

He’s not even 24 and hasn’t had the proper coaching in order to take the next step. Just like the light went on for Baker after they hired Stefanski, we’re banking on the light coming on for Darnold with Rhule and co. He has all the tools you could ever ask for, it’s cleaning up the bad plays that comes with GOOD coaching!

[mrcompletely11]

1 minute ago, *FreeFua* said:

Most guys who do breakdowns will tell you the good plays he makes are special. They’re right. There are a lot of QB’s that are not physically capable of doing some of the stuff you see in these clips. 
 

He’s not even 24 and hasn’t had the proper coaching in order to take the next step. Just like the light went on for Baker after they hired Stefanski, we’re banking on the light coming on for Darnold with Rhule and co. He has all the tools you could ever ask for, it’s cleaning up the bad plays that comes with GOOD coaching!

Weird injuries, terrible coaching, terrible oline, terrible weapons and thrown straight to the wolves at the age of 20 from the jump with no acclimation period.

 

The more I look into this the more I think this is a slam dunk. 

[*FreeFua*]

Just now, mrcompletely11 said:

Weird injuries, terrible coaching, terrible oline, terrible weapons and thrown straight to the wolves at the age of 20 from the jump with no acclimation period.

 

The more I look into this the more I think this is a slam dunk. 

Yep.

And if he downright stinks we essentially sent a 2nd and 4th to move up in next years draft. Which ain’t bad these days. 

Of course the worst case scenario is we go 7-10 and Darnold doesn’t look that great and we are now out some capital to try and move up. 

But I think Darnold has shown enough really good flashes the first 3 years that he’s worth the risk if you believe in your coaches. Which is exactly what Rhule is supposed to be good at

[TheRumGone]

15 minutes ago, *FreeFua* said:

Most guys who do breakdowns will tell you the good plays he makes are special. They’re right. There are a lot of QB’s that are not physically capable of doing some of the stuff you see in these clips. 
 

He’s not even 24 and hasn’t had the proper coaching in order to take the next step. Just like the light went on for Baker after they hired Stefanski, we’re banking on the light coming on for Darnold with Rhule and co. He has all the tools you could ever ask for, it’s cleaning up the bad plays that comes with GOOD coaching!

I think the biggest thing for Sam is taking the pressure off of him to make the big play. He was asked to make poo happen out of nothing with that talent deficient team. We have playmakers. Yes I want him taking chances downfield but he makes too many mistakes when he tries to play hero ball. He needs to figure out when and where to take those chances. If you watch some of his games as a Jet there are absolutely inexcusable throws that he cannot make. 
 

I don’t like this trade because we gave up a 2nd rounder for a guy who threw 9 tds last season. That’s just not good. Regardless of coaching or talent deficiencies when he’s got as much talent as he has. And I don’t think we can correct his really bad habits in 2 years. Nobody can tell me that as bad as that coaching staff with the Jets was that they were not harping on him not making those types of throws. It’s just instinctual and bad habits for him. Hard to break that.

[Mr. Scot]

3 minutes ago, TheRumGone said:

I think the biggest thing for Sam is taking the pressure off of him to make the big play. He was asked to make poo happen out of nothing with that talent deficient team. We have playmakers. Yes I want him taking chances downfield but he makes too many mistakes when he tries to play hero ball. He needs to figure out when and where to take those chances. If you watch some of his games as a Jet there are absolutely inexcusable throws that he cannot make. 

It's relevant to point out here that we aren't running a "big play" offense. We run a "get it to your playmakers and let them do the work" type scheme.

Mind you, we can still benefit from a big play every once in a while, but our attack isn't predicated on it.