Sam Darnold reveals Packers played a role in him signing with Vikings

As the starting quarterback of the Minnesota Vikings, Sam Darnold will have to go up against the Green Bay Packers twice during the 2024 season (barring injury, of course). For one of Darnold's closest friends, that's exactly why he wanted him to sign with the Vikings.

A recent interview with the Minnesota Star Tribune's Ben Goessling revealed that one of Darnold's best friends, who also happens to be a big Packers fan, was the most vocal from the quarterback's friend group about him signing with the Vikings this offseason.

Darnold shared in his interview with Goessling how his Packers-loving friend influenced his decision to sign with Minnesota earlier this year.

"He knows the [Vikings] organization well, watching twice a year and having to battle those years for playoff contention and whatnot for the division.

...He was excited to maybe go to a couple of free Packers games."

Can the Minnesota Vikings help Sam Darnold finally live up to his potential?

Darnold is entering his seventh season in the NFL, but he's still only 27-years-old. It's no secret that he hasn't lived up to expectations since entering the league as the No. 3 overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft, but it's not like he's had the best of circumstances either.

As a 21-year-old rookie, Darnold was thrust into the starting lineup immediately for a New York Jets team that was coming off of a 5-11 season in 2017. Jets fans thought he was going to come in and turn things around for the team right away.

But New York has been one of the most dysfunctional franchises in the history of the NFL for a reason, and they did almost nothing to help Darnold succeed.

In his rookie season, his top targets were Robbie Chosen, Jermaine Kearse, and Quincy Enunwa, New York's offensive line was below average, and the team's defense ranked 29th in points allowed.

The Jets ended up firing Todd Bowles as the team's head coach after Darnold's rookie year, and the team replaced him with former Miami Dolphins head coach Adam Gase.

For whatever reason, Gase was viewed as some sort of offensive guru after benefitting from Peyton Manning's tenure with the Denver Broncos, but he was never able to build a successful offense as a head coach.

So, unsurprisingly, Gase wasn't able to help Darnold reach his potential during their time together in 2019 and 2020. Their lack of success together resulted in New York firing Gase and trading Darnold to the Carolina Panthers during the 2021 offseason.

Things didn't get any better for the veteran quarterback after joining the Panthers, as he was placed in unfavorable circumstances once again.

During Darnold's tenure, Carolina was led by head coach Matt Rhule, who posted an 11-27 record in less than three seasons and fled back to the college level after getting fired by the Panthers midway through the 2022 campaign.

In 2023, Darnold signed with the San Francisco 49ers, and for the first time in his NFL career, he had the opportunity to just sit back and learn from one of the top offensive minds in the history of the sport, Kyle Shanahan.

He only attempted 21 passes in 10 appearances for the 49ers last season, but it was enough to convince the Vikings to bring him in earlier this year to be the team's bridge quarterback.

Minnesota isn't expecting Darnold to put together an MVP-caliber performance this season, but they also don't need that from him. The Vikings just want him to run the offense, take care of the football, and throw to Justin Jefferson as much as possible.

Minnesota is easily the best situation that Darnold has been in during his entire pro career, and potentially, it could result in him reaching some of those expectations that people gave him after the 2018 draft.

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