USC quarterback Sam Darnold is one of the guys quarterback-needy NFL teams are eyeballing as a potential top pick in the 2018 NFL Draft. But based on information obtained by Daniel Jeremiah of NFL.com at Nike’s The Opening, those teams might need to wait a while or seek other solutions.
“…when I asked the coaches/staffers what stood out about Darnold, they each mentioned his humility and willingness to learn. He’s always asking questions and he doesn’t act like he has all of the answers. I also had several sources close to Darnold tell me they wouldn’t be surprised if Darnold played two more seasons at USC.”
Darnold is a redshirt sophomore and could come out of college to the NFL ranks as early as the 2018 NFL Draft. But if he intends on playing two more seasons, then teams interested in his services would obviously have to wait another year. And in NFL terms, that’s a long time, especially because coaching jobs are on the line every single year.
This upcoming season will be incredibly important for Darnold — one of the players facing the most pressure in the nation in 2017.
Once he took over for Max Browne last season, he looked nothing like a redshirt freshman. After the Trojans lost to Utah in his first game of the season, they didn’t lose another game all year long. And a lot of that had to do with Darnold’s ability to lead the offense and deliver dimes to his receivers.
Darnold finished his redshirt freshman season with 3,086 yards passing, completing 67.2 percent of his attempts for 31 touchdowns and just nine interceptions.