Is It Weird to Be Proud of Someone You’ve Never Met? Sam Darnold's Comeback Story is Your Answer

Last year at this time, Sam Darnold was finishing his 2024 NFL season with the Minnesota Vikings. That season started like it was the beginning of the revitalization of his career after several disappointing stops across the NFL. For a few months, it seemed like the former third overall pick had finally found a long-term home.

However, that optimism faded quickly. After two poor performances at the end of the season in the team's most important games, including a Week 18 game with a chance to win the NFC North and secure the number one seed in the NFC, the Vikings came up short. Darnold then struggled in a playoff loss to the Rams.

Despite a strong season where Darnold threw for 35 touchdowns and over 4300 yards, the Vikings decided to turn the page, and the organization chose to hand the offense to J.J. McCarthy, their first-round pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, leaving Darnold once again searching for a team that truly believed in him.

That belief came in Seattle. This season, Darnold defied expectations yet again (including my own), emerging as a key piece of the Seahawks’ resurgence.

On Sunday night, with a trip to the Super Bowl on the line, he delivered the best performance of his career against the very team that had helped define the narrative that he struggles in big games just a year earlier. In doing so, Darnold led the Seahawks to the Super Bowl for the first time in 11 years and now is just one win away from completing one of the most remarkable career turnarounds not only in NFL history but in sports.

To fully appreciate his comeback, it is worth revisiting where his NFL journey began. Drafted third overall by the New York Jets in 2018, Darnold was thrust into the spotlight as a 21-year-old quarterback in one of the most demanding markets in sports. At one point, he famously said he was “seeing ghosts,” and that moment has stuck with him ever since. When the Jets brought in a new regime, it was clear Darnold was no longer their guy.

In the spring of 2021, he was traded to the Carolina Panthers, where he showed flashes but struggled too much and too often to be seen as a true franchise quarterback. Then, in 2023, he signed with the San Francisco 49ers. Despite having opportunities to compete for starting jobs elsewhere, Darnold made a critical decision at that point in his career, he knew he needed to sit, learn the league, learn the position, and learn how to command an offense.

That decision laid the foundation for his strong season in Minnesota, which ended in disappointment, but all those past experiences have helped shape who he has become, which is a quarterback who is good enough to lead a team to the biggest stage in sports. I can't stress this enough: Darnold is now one win away from completing what I truly believe could be the greatest comeback story the NFL has ever seen.

It’s not often that I find myself proud of someone I’ve never met, someone I’ve never had a real connection with. But for some reason, there’s no other word that fits when it comes to Sam Darnold and his journey to get to this point.

I was one of those people who didn't believe in him for the longest. Hell, I was even someone who made fun of him when he had to miss a month due to mononucleosis.

Now look at me. I'm just proud of the guy.

Darnold has been through so much, and he's still only 28 years old. He’s been doubted throughout his entire NFL career. And now, when everyone was waiting for him to fall flat once again, he shined in the biggest spot of his career when his team needed him most.

Darnold’s journey is a reminder of why perseverance matters and why self-belief can change everything. And not just believing in yourself, but having people in your corner who believe in you, too. He’s shown that with hard work and belief, you can do almost anything.

All this said, there still is one game to go.

Darnold and his Seahawks still need to finish the job. But if Darnold can do that in Super Bowl LX against the New England Patriots, the same franchise he was "seeing ghosts" against, he will have completely shifted the narrative of his career.

Not only would he be one of the most unbelievable comeback stories in sports history, but he might spark a few more. People will look at Sam Darnold and think, "Why can't I do that?"

The Seattle Seahawks take on the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LX on February 8th.

And no matter how this turns out for Sam Darnold, win or lose, he’s already an inspiration for a lot of people across the sports world.

And while I’ve never met the guy, I couldn’t be prouder of him.