The rhetoric surrounding veteran quarterback Sam Darnold always seems to start and stop with his incredible arm talent. It’s not hard to figure out why he was the No. 3 pick in the 2018 NFL Draft. Just watch him throw the ball at TCO Performance Center.

Frankly, if Darnold wasn’t so impressive in that specific area of his game, he might not be getting a chance to resurrect his career with the Vikings.

After showing some promise early on in his career, Darnold fell victim to the lack of support with the New York Jets. He was gifted a fresh start via a trade to the Carolina Panthers, then parlayed that into a learning opportunity with the San Francisco 49ers.

The roller coaster culminated this offseason when Darnold signed a one-year, $10 million contract with the Vikings. As soon as he put pen to paper, the narrative started to build with thoughts that he could potentially follow in the footsteps of polarizing quarterback Baker Mayfield.

If there’s a poster child for an unexpected turnaround, it’s Mayfield after what he accomplished last season with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He signed with them at a time when his career was seemingly on its last legs. He won the starting job out of training camp, led the Buccaneers to a playoff berth, won a playoff game, and got rewarded with a $100 million contract.

How likely is that type of renaissance?

In an attempt to answer that question, the Pioneer Press compiled a list of every quarterback over the past decade that was selected in either the first round or the second round. The exercise was designed to find quarterbacks, who, like Darnold, fell flat as the starter with the franchise that drafted them, then got another chance as the starter elsewhere.

2013: E.J. Manuel (first), Geno Smith (second)
2014: Blake Bortles (first), Johnny Manziel (first), Teddy Bridgewater (first), Derek Carr (second), Jimmy Garoppolo (second)
2015: Jameis Winston (first), Marcus Mariota (first)
2016: Jared Goff (first), Carson Wentz (first), Paxton Lynch (first), Christian Hackenberg (second)
2017: Mitch Trubisky (first), Patrick Mahomes (first), Deshaun Watson (first), DeShone Kizer (second)
2018: Baker Mayfield (first), Sam Darnold (first), Josh Allen (first), Josh Rosen (first), Lamar Jackson (first)
2019: Kyler Murray (first), Daniel Jones (first), Dwayne Haskins (first), Drew Lock (second)
2020: Joe Burrow (first), Tua Tagovailoa (first), Justin Herbert (first), Jordan Love (first), Jalen Hurts (second)
2021: Trevor Lawrence (first), Zach Wilson (first), Trey Lance (first), Justin Fields (first), Mac Jones (first), Kyle Trask (second)
2022: Kenny Pickett (first)
2023: Bryce Young (first), C.J. Stroud (first), Anthony Richardson (first), Will Levis (second)
2024: Caleb Williams (first), Jayden Daniels (first), Drake Maye (first), Michael Penix Jr. (first), J.J. McCarthy (first), Bo Nix (first)

The results yielded a couple of success stories, like Mayfield, a number of cautionary tales, like Marcus Mariota, and a ton of quarterbacks who flamed out and were never heard from again. Now it’s up to Darnold to determine how he wants to be remembered.

The success stories

Geno Smith

After being selected by the Jets with the No. 39 pick in 2013, Smith threw 13 touchdowns and 21 interceptions as a rookie. It slowly devolved from there and Smith eventually lost his starting job to Ryan Fitzpatrick. After his contract with the Jets ran out, Smith spent time with the New York Giants and the Los Angeles Chargers before finally landing with the Seattle Seahawks. He served as the backup to Russell Wilson for a couple of seasons before finally getting another chance to be a starter. Smith seized the opportunity, proving himself as a viable option under center. He’s signed a $75 million contract last season and remains the Seahawks’ starter.

Baker Mayfield

As the No. 1 pick in 2018, Mayfield was supposed to help revive the Cleveland Browns. He appeared to be well on his way after guiding them to an 11-5 record in 2020 that featured the franchise’s first playoff since 1994. But Mayfield’s play gradually started to drop and he requested a trade after the Browns acquired Deshaun Watson in 2022. There were some dark days as Mayfield struggled with the Panthers before showing flashes with the Los Angeles Rams. He got another chance to be a starter last season with the Buccaneers and completely rewrote the narrative, completing 364 of 566 passes for 4,044 and 28 touchdowns.

The cautionary tales

Teddy Bridgewater

A beloved member of the Vikings, Bridgewater was selected with the No. 32 pick in 2014 and might have worked out as the franchise quarterback had it not been for a catastrophic knee injury in 2016. Ultimately, the Vikings made other plans, signing Kirk Cousins in free agency in 2018, which prompted Bridgewater to sign with the Jets. After being traded to New Orleans, he served as the backup to Drew Brees for a couple of seasons, showing enough in limited action to convince the Panthers to give him a $63 million contract. That didn’t work out, and while Bridgewater went on to have some moderate success as Denver’s starter, he was no longer worth building around. He played for the Miami Dolphins and Detroit Lions before announcing his retirement.

Jameis Winston

After a successful college career, Winston was the obvious choice for the Buccaneers, who had the No. 1 pick in 2015. He never put it all together, largely because of his carelessness with the ball. The most damning performance came in 2019, when Winston threw 33 touchdowns and 30 interceptions. Not surprisingly, the Buccaneers decided to move on and Winston signed with the Saints. After serving as the backup to Brees in 2020, Winston was named the starter in 2021, but he suffered a knee injury in 2021, then a back injury in 2022 and has never gotten another shot to be a starter. He’s currently an emergency quarterback with the Browns.

Marcus Mariota

It was a no-brainer for the Tennessee Titans to select Mariota with the No. 2 pick. Viewed as a franchise quarterback because of his ability as a runner and passer, he consistently put together strong performances during the early portion of his career — and won a playoff game in 2017. But Mariota never took the next step and eventually was benched in favor of Ryan Tannehill. Mariota signed with the Las Vegas Raiders and, after serving as the backup to Derek Carr, got another chance to start when he signed with Atlanta Falcons in 2018. As a main character on the Netflix docuseries Quarterback, Mariota struggled with consistency and was benched in favor of Desmond Ridder. He’s now the backup for the Washington Commanders.

Carson Wentz

The No. 2 pick in 2016, Wentz was a bona fide franchise quarterback for the Eagles. But he suffered a knee injury in 2018 that opened the door for Nick Foles to win a Super Bowl, and become a legend, for the Eagles. Nothing was the same for Wentz, who dealt with more injuries and slowly started to decline before being traded to Indianapolis. He was the starter in 2021, and while he completed 322 of 516 passes for 3,563 yards and 27 touchdowns, the Colts missed the playoffs and traded Wentz to the Commanders. He didn’t pan out there, either, and after spending time with the Rams last season Wentz is now the backup in with the Kansas City Chiefs.

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