Sam Darnold’s evolution into a top QB is fueling the Vikings’ unbeaten start

Jeff Hanisch-Imagn Images

Vikings QB Sam Darnold’s growth, viewed through Bill Walsh’s evaluation mindset

The most surprising team in football through four weeks of the 2024 NFL season, Monday Night Football aside?

That is likely the Minnesota Vikings.

With Kirk Cousins moving to the Atlanta Falcons, and first-round selection J.J. McCarthy sidelined for the season with a knee injury, Minnesota turned to Sam Darnold to begin their season. Now, thanks to an imposing defense and Darnold’s play, the Vikings are 4-0. Depending on how the Detroit Lions perform Monday night against another surprising team, the Seattle Seahawks, the Vikings could hold a two-game lead in the NFC North when they travel across the pond to take on the New York Jets next weekend in England.

I’ll let the people much smarter than me, like my dear colleague JP Acosta, dive into Brian Flores’ defense and the chaos it creates. Today I’ll focus on Darnold and his feet.

Over the years much has been written and said about Bill Walsh, and how the legendary coach viewed and evaluated quarterbacks. Walsh firmly believed that very few could coach the position, and even fewer could evaluate it. Darnold and the rest of the members of the NFL Draft QB Class of 2018 — Baker Mayfield, Josh Rosen, Josh Allen, and Lamar Jackson — could be a testament to that fact.

However, a lot of what Walsh looked for could be found near the ground. As Michael Lombardi wrote:

Walsh let the rest of the football world focus on a quarterback’s arm. He was focused on the feet. It was a paradigm shift born from his lifelong love of boxing. Walsh often shadowboxed his way down the halls of Niners headquarters, and whenever he found a fitting boxing metaphor to motivate his team, he was happy. He broke down boxers as he watched fights: their footwork, their quickness, how they moved, timing, balance. Like a boxer who can throw a flurry of punches as he deftly shuffles his feet, Walsh’s quarterbacks needed their body parts to work in a similarly surgical unison. Quick feet, quick arm. Balanced feet, balanced arm. Coordinated feet, coordinated attack.

It is hard to watch Darnold this season and not have Walsh’s words echo through your mind.

On Sunday’s opening drive against the Green Bay Packers, Darnold spun away from pressure on a second-down play and forced a throw into coverage that was nearly intercepted. The pass fell incomplete, breathing new life into Minnesota’s opening drive. But if the Vikings wanted to extend that possession, they needed to convert this 3rd-and-14 situation.

Challenge accepted:

Darnold connects with Jalen Nailor on this crossing concept to move the chains, but pay particular attention to his footwork on this play. Working out of the shotgun, and from an empty formation, Darnold takes the snap and uses a five-step drop (along with a cheat step first with his left foot). Once he hits that final step he takes a slight hitch step, completely balanced in the pocket on the balls of his feet, and the ball is coming out. This play is part NFL quarterback, part professional boxer, and you might even say part musical conductor. Everything is in rhythm, the timing is precise, and the Vikings have a first down.

Then came Darnold’s next passing attempt, this 29-yard touchdown to Jordan Addison:

Again, take note of how the footwork synchs up with the route, leading to a big play for the Minnesota offense. Addison runs a vertical route, showing the cornerback a curl route at a depth of around nine yards downfield by chopping his feet before continuing deep on his vertical stem. As this unfolds Darnold uses a three-step drop from the shotgun and once he hits his drop depth, resets his feet in the pocket, all while completely balanced underneath him. He flashes his eyes to the middle of the field — one last glimpse to freeze the post-safety in Green Bay’s Cover 3 — and then completes the play with a perfect throw to Addison for the score.

Walsh would have loved these two plays.

In fact, Walsh would have loved most of what Darnold did on Sunday, showcasing the argument for the importance of footwork to a quarterback, and an offense. Walsh is often credited with the idea that to understand how a quarterback is playing you simply need to watch their feet, and that will give you the answer.

Darnold’s third touchdown pass of the game, this 14-yard back-shoulder throw to Justin Jefferson, is a prime example. He puts this throw in a perfect spot, but the footwork, and what you learn from it, stands out:

His feet are as calm as can be, as he works quickly to Jefferson in single coverage for this throw. This is a comfortable, confident quarterback who trusts those around him, the offense he is in, and ultimately, himself.

Minnesota built a 28-7 lead over the Packers by halftime, but their offense sputtered a bit in the second half, opening the door for a Green Bay comeback. That included Darnold’s lone interception of the day, which came on a corner route intended for Aaron Jones, which Xavier McKinney deftly stepped in front of. It also included a strip-sack of Darnold early in the fourth quarter, which gifted Green Bay incredible field position, which they converted into a touchdown to make it a one-score game.

Suddenly, the game was on the line, which leads us to another aspect of Walsh’s viewpoint on quarterbacks: How do they play under pressure? As set forth by former Stanford head coach (and current member of the Denver Broncos front office) David Shaw, who learned under Walsh: “That conversation [with Walsh about what he looked for in a quarterback] is still my basis for evaluating QBs. I have to see the QB have a ‘feel’ for moving in the pocket; he must have great anticipation for throwing the ball and be at his best in critical situations when the game is on the line.”

As the game approached crunch time, Darnold delivered perhaps his three best throws of the game.

First was this crossing route to Jefferson to begin Minnesota’s next possession, after Green Bay had cut their lead to 28-22:

Working from under center and off a deep drop with run action, Darnold hits that final step and immediately the ball is coming out, another example of perfect timing on a route concept.

Minnesota would finish that drive with a field goal, three critical points at that juncture of the contest.

Two drives later the Vikings faced a 3rd and 12 at the Packers’ 44-yard line, still holding a 31-22 lead. Another first down would be critical with just over four minutes remaining, and the Packers knew that, as they show pressure presnap. Darnold, flashing that anticipation Shaw noted above, makes a perfect throw to Jefferson on an out route, with a free runner bearing down on him in the pocket:

This is a three-step drop and immediately on hitting that final step, the ball is coming out. Darnold sees the cornerback playing off presnap and knows that Jefferson will have the leverage advantage when he breaks to the outside. He makes a perfect throw, the catch is eventually confirmed after a Minnesota challenge, and the Vikings have a fresh set of downs, and a chance to work the clock some more.

Head coach Kevin O’Connell put the ball in Darnold’s hands on the very next play, and you see more of that “feel” in the pocket, as the QB bounces and climbs away from pressure off the edges, sticking a throw into Addison on a curl route:

That drive eventually stalled out deep in the red zone, and the Packers added a touchdown late for the 31-29 final score.

But the focus here is Darnold, and the footwork he showed Sunday. The footwork of a confident quarterback, in command of the offense he is operating and with full trust in those around him. To crib from Walsh some more, if footwork is truly the window into how well a quarterback is playing, Darnold’s footwork is all you need to see just how well things are going for Minnesota right now.

Can it continue?

Right now, the footwork tells us that it can.