Bussin with the Boys: Sam Darnold

[Icege]

Taylor Lewan has a podcast and Sam Darnold was his most recent guest: 

 

Kind of like with Rhule, regardless of how we feel about his job performance, Sam's a likable dude that might be chill to a fault...

His story about getting his first scholarship offer and not understanding the importance gave me a good laugh.

Summary (~40min in so far, will update with more bulletin points as I listen)

• Voluntarily oblivious to news stories about him
• Country music fan
• Garrett Bradbury and Pat Elflein training together surprised me a little bit since Bradbury replaced Elflein in Minnesota, but I came across a 2019 article afterwards that highlighted how Elflein had become a mentor to Bradbury. I still don't want Elflein anywhere near the starting lineup tho... :x
• Basketball was Sam's first love, grew up idolizing Kobe and watching the Lakers with his pops. Played baseball as well.
• Taylor Lewan put up similar combine numbers 
• Was a WLB in a 3-4 while in HS and took over for 2 games at QB after the HS QB went down (nothing new to my fellow research fiends, but I didn't know that he was specifically a WLB at 190lbs trying to deal with kids pushing 300lbs!)
• Was originally recruited and offered a scholarship by the University of Utah to play QB after those 2 games his sophomore season
• Giants WR David Sills was originally one of the top QB recruits in Cali, having committed to USC in 7th grade while playing in WV
• Converted to QB full time his junior year, but before that was a LB/WR
• Tennessee + Pac12 + Big10 schools recruited him, including Harbaugh but he was a big USC fan growing up so he was committed to them
• Northwestern + Duke + Oregon had recruited him before going to a camp at USC where he threw for Sarkisian + worked out before getting offered that day
• Obligatory Chris Rock/Will Smith conversation to pass time
• Redshirted behind Cody Kessler and lost the QB competition to Max Brown (who he became pretty good friends with) before starting week 4. Was originally going to get a few redzone packages (including 3rd+4th & short) where he might have the opportunity to run the ball.

Edited April 6, 2022 by Icege

[saX man]

We're going places with that man.  Those are, however, not the places I'd like to go.  

[Panther'sBigD]

Elflein was the top center in his class. Bradbury was just a better version of him that they didn't want to pass up. He sucked at guard for us, but he's actually been a decent center when they finally put him in that spot. With another offseason and a better coach, hopefully he can return to form. I'd still love to get Linderbaum if he falls to the right spot. 

[therealmjl]

I appreciate the post OP I really do but you must have been painfully bored to listen to Sam Darnold talk for 40+ minutes 

[TheSpecialJuan]

Good stuff thanks 

[Icege]

1 hour ago, therealmjl said:

I appreciate the post OP I really do but you must have been painfully bored to listen to Sam Darnold talk for 40+ minutes 

Sitting alone for 30min in a vendor call that they no showed gave me some empty space to fill

But to be completely honest, it's been an enjoyable listen that's profoundly more fulfilling than arguing with clueless Steelers fans about the salary cap

[frankw]

Sam seems like a good guy I wish him well in his non football endeavors. He just cannot play quarterback and so far through four NFL seasons does not seem to inspire as a leader. We can post dozens of interviews or marketing gimmicks to make him more appealing but none of that will make him a franchise quarterback.

[Zod]

Props for listening to it because I sure aint. 

[Cam's New Arm]

9 minutes ago, Zod said:

Props for listening to it because I sure aint. 

[Cam's New Arm]

9 minutes ago, Zod said:

Props for listening to it because I sure aint. 

me neither tho, tbh.



thanks to an awesome writeup from OP!

[Icege]

Had minutes 40 - 90 summarized, but Chrome killed my tab

Nothing really crazy aside from how often he says "100%" as an affirmative. Sam's a big proponent for mental health awareness and was very complimentary of Dak's transparency with his own struggles. Talked about how interesting social media is in regards to mental health in that we're all flies on people's walls with it now. Believes that the pressure on QBs is deserved due to the money that the position commands. Ranked his top 5 USC QBs as 1) Carson Palmer, 2) Matt Leinart, 3) Mark Sanchez, 4) Matt Barkley, 5) Rodney Peete.

Talked about the "seeing ghosts" games and was complimentary of Adam Gase. Said that the Patriots came after them with cover-0 even when they went with tempo, and that the Belichick tree is incredibly good at disguising their blitzes to the point where you end up sliding protection away from the guy that's actually coming.

Mentioned the fun of talking to fans when they strategize (especially when they don't know things like somebody is nursing an injury being why they're not getting the ball more often), but also tunes them out once they get judgmental.

Told the Jets they made the wrong call when they traded him before telling his agent to communicate with him anything going on since he was going off of social media to avoid the crosstalk. Complimentary of Joe Douglas and how he handled the trade process.

Got about 20min left, so I'm going to go ahead and post this summary before Chrome eats poo again.

[Captain Morgan]

appreciate the summary

[Icege]

Lives in Cali during the offseason. Bought a place and renovated it 4yrs ago. 

I know most folks won't even bother clicking the video, BUT if you want to hear a funny conversation about Cam, click here. tldr; Lewan didn't like him because of the Tennessee game where Avery Williams ran up on him after dancing in the endzone, Sam literally glowed when speaking about him though and emphatically said that he was the best. Complimentary of him as a teammate, person, leader, etc. Says his energy is unmatchable. Absolutely nothing to say about Cam but good things, and spoke about how Cam is a normal dude that's dialed in and quiet while preparing. 

Mentioned learning how to avoid the "noise" while he was in New York and has done the same this season. Focused on learning McAdoo's system.

Was asked about being nervous about a QB being taken at #6. First time Sam said he's had to answer those questions since he avoids the noise and folks in conversation don't bring it up, but whatever happens happens at #6. He understands that it's outside of his control but has enough confidence in himself to believe that if something happens that he could find a team. Impressed Lewan with his demeanor.

Still rolls with a group of 6 or 7 best friends from his high school days that bust his balls and keep him grounded.

Shared a story about how after the Rose Bowl he got his IDs taken away and they had nothing to do. Went an hour south back to his hometown and hung out with those aforementioned best friends where they had a few drinks and DM'd Snoop Dogg. No response to this day lmao

[Verge]

Sam is a chill guy, a shame he sucks as a QB, seems like a really good person.