NFL gameday guide: Sam Darnold looks to become NFL’s latest comeback story as San Francisco 49ers and Kansas City Chiefs unleash potential stars

The 2024 NFL season is up and running! Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs are on a quest for a third straight Super Bowl, Brock Purdy and the San Francisco 49ers are on their tails, and the next wave of young quarterback stars are coming. We look ahead to Week Two…

Editor’s note…

Is there to be a late twist in the career of Sam Darnold? The stage belongs to him in Minnesota, and with it an opportunity to stake his claim as the NFL’s latest quarterback comeback story.

I know what you are thinking. I can hear it. But Week One over-reactions are a fun custom, particularly where Darnold and his gruelling journey are concerned. Finally, he gets his chance to toss the rock to a superstar quarterback-elevating wide receiver in Justin Jefferson. Finally, he has the chance to build something with a quarterback-whisperer head coach in Kevin O’Connell, who is as qualified as any offensive architect in the league to put his play-caller in a position to succeed.

Sunday was meaningful to Darnold for a number of reasons. He was back at MetLife Stadium, a place he called home and where he might have felt his career had come and gone in a flash during three torrid, haunting seasons with the New York Jets upon entering the league as the third overall pick in 2018. He also delivered perhaps the game of his NFL career, starting 12/12 passing before finishing 19 of 24 for 208 yards, two touchdowns and an interception with his highest completion percentage since his rookie year in Minnesota’s 28-6 win over the New York Giants.

“This guy’s gonna go out there and do that over and over and over again and they’re going to be f****** talking about him,” said a fired-up O’Connell in his post-game locker room speech.

Here was overdue relief and glowing exposure for a man who had sunk with two of the league’s worst teams over the last five or six years, a rare flashback to some of the ability that had fuelled his first-round entry.

It poses as an obscure and undefined window of opportunity for Darnold, a defining audition if you will after an unchallenged place at the helm was secured for 2024 at least following a season-ending knee injury to rookie first-round pick J.J. McCarthy during the summer. The former Michigan man is deemed the future of the franchise; Darnold’s job is putting the future on hold.

Rarely in his NFL career has he enjoyed any notion of security or direction. He was drafted into a desperately understaffed Jets team in which his leading weapons were Robbie Chosen (Robbie Anderson), Chris Herndon and Quincy Enunwa (exactly…), before suffering in an overcomplicated Adam Gase offense at a time of division across the organisation.

Darnold’s 2019 campaign had been marred by a mononucleosis diagnosis, before he marked his return by throwing four interceptions against the New England Patriots as he was seen uttering “I’m seeing ghosts” on the sideline, warranting further ridicule to which the Jets were no strangers.

He led the team to six wins in their last eight to see out the season, before falling to 2-10 as starter in 2020 and being traded to a dysfunctional Carolina Panthers organisation where he would go 4-7 and 4-2 as a starter over the next two seasons, during each of which he missed at least a month due to injury.

His road to some kind of resurgence received its most notable boost last year when he was given the chance to sit behind Brock Purdy in San Francisco, reaping the lessons of Kyle Shanahan’s offensive mastery in the hope of taking it forward to his next destination. Kirk Cousins headed to Atlanta, and so Minnesota came calling.

Awaiting him was another perfect string-puller in O’Connell, whose savvy receiver motions and ability to identify and manipulate defensive gameplans in order to create open looks grants Darnold an environment to showcase his arm. It can’t all be O’Connell and Wes Phillips, but they will hand their quarterback as many assists as he will have seen in his NFL career.

Geno Smith reinvented his career with the Seattle Seahawks, Baker Mayfield earned himself a pay-day following a standout season alongside Dave Canales in Tampa Bay. It is never too late.

On a side note, the comebacks may not end there this season. Daniel Jones could well find Drew Lock breathing down his neck in New York, and how much of a surprise would it really be were Jameis Winston to leapfrog Deshaun Watson in Cleveland at some point? And in case you were wondering, Andy Dalton is Bryce Young’s back up in Carolina (may be one to remember).

Darnold reunites with Shanahan and the 49ers this weekend as his Vikings host San Francisco, with the Sky Sports NFL team broadcasting live from Minneapolis from 5pm on Sunday.

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Neil Reynolds and Phoebe Schecter look ahead to the NFL’s Week Two fixtures and make their predictions…

Around the league

• Malik Willis is set to make his first start for the Green Bay Packers as he steps in at quarterback for the injured Jordan Love against the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday. Willis arrived in Green Bay via a trade from the Tennessee Titans on August 26.
• Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua has been placed on injured reserve after re-aggravating a knee injury, meaning he will miss at least the next four games.
• The NFL said it is reviewing a new lawsuit filed against Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson, who is being sued for sexual assault battery; Watson was suspended for 11 games last season following multiple allegations of sexual harassment.
• The Seattle Seahawks will again be without Uchenna Nwosu against the New England Patriots in Week Two as the edge rusher continues his recovery from a knee injury.
• Kansas City Chiefs receiver Hollywood Brown missed practice this week as he continues to nurse a shoulder injury, and could again be absent as the Super Bowl champions face the Cincinnati Bengals.

What to watch in Week Two

Sunday, 6pm – San Francisco 49ers @ Minnesota Vikings: It was Jordan Mason who starred on the ground in the absence of Christian McCaffrey as the 49ers ran all over the Jets in Monday night’s victory, but with it came a first sighting of San Francisco’s potential new offensive line stalwart. Rookie right guard Dominick Puni finished as Pro Football Focus’s highest-graded offensive rookie in Week One, consistently offering Brock Purdy protection in the pocket on a frustrating night for the Jets pass rush while showcasing his talents as a plough in the run game with the speed at which he was able to reach the second level. Puni provided early signs of becoming a steal as a third-round pick out of Kansas, and a new brawling dimension to one of the league’s most sophisticated run games. The Vikings boast a new asset of their own on the ground, Aaron Jones having impressed on debut at the weekend with 14 carries for 94 yards and a touchdown against the Giants following his offseason move across from the Green Bay Packers. He is a modern quarterback’s best friend, and an invaluable figure to Darnold’s career resurrection hopes.

Sunday, 9.25pm – Cincinnati Bengals @ Kansas City Chiefs: Social media reactions to the Chiefs drafting Xavier Worthy in April were spectacular: it was a mixture of fury, fear and bewilderment as Patrick Mahomes’ tormentees were left to wonder how the rest of the league had let him and Andy Reid snag the quickest player out of college. The Chiefs offense lacked explosiveness on the outside last season; Worthy looked an immediate remedy in Week One, dicing the Baltimore Ravens in fast-forward with rushing and receiving touchdowns. How heavily, and how quickly he becomes a central part to this system alongside Rashee Rice will be one of the stories of Kansas City’s campaign. If ever there was a time for the Bengals offense to wake up early in a season, it is against Steve Spagnuolo’s Chiefs defense. The run game limped in its first game without Joe Mixon during Sunday’s loss to the New England Patriots, more required from Zack Moss and Chase Brown and the ground scheme as a whole.

Sunday Night Football – Chicago Bears @ Houston Texans: On that note, let’s stick with Mixon. The former Bengal torched the Indianapolis Colts on the ground with 159 rushing yards and a touchdown from 30 carries on his regular-season debut for the Texans following his offseason arrival. It was the perfect introduction as a box-filling cog with which to open up the field for CJ Stroud to maximise his star-studded receiving group of Nico Collins, Stefon Diggs and Tank Dell. The headline to Sunday Night Football will be a collision of two quarterbacks poised to rule among the NFL’s big-hitters over the next decade in Stroud and Caleb Williams, the latter of whom struggled in a shaky debut against the Tennessee Titans. The No 1 overall pick lacked rhythm and accuracy in his first start, but still delivered minor glimpses of his talents off-script and outside the pocket. Rarely has a rookie quarterback been blessed with such a strong set-up when it comes to weapons around him; Williams’ early development in the NFL will be one to keep an eye on.

Monday Night Football – Atlanta Falcons @ Philadelphia Eagles: Falcons head coach Raheem Morris lamented his team’s failure to get the ball in the hands of Drake London more often during their opening-week defeat to the Pittsburgh Steelers. London had just two catches and three targets on the day, the last of which came early in the second quarter as a TJ Watt-inspired defense quashed Atlanta’s efforts to maximise their star-studded offense under Kirk Cousins. London isn’t one of the league’s most dynamic separators in his position, but Cousins establishing an understanding with his big-bodied contested catch option is a must if the Falcons are to be successful. Meanwhile in Philadelphia, Howie Roseman is chuckling in admiration at his offseason business once more after seeing Saquon Barkley find the end zone three times on debut for the Eagles. From a neutral perspective, how satisfying it will be to see one of the NFL’s most dynamic offensive weapons play freely in an offense other than that of the broken New York Giants.

Who said what?

49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan on Christian McCaffrey’s injury: “It’s not just the calf, it’s the Achilles and the Achilles is tendonitis and that stuff comes and goes. When it is acting up, it’s something you’ve got to be very careful about. Christian’s very diligent about that stuff. And if it was a playoff game, he made it very clear to me, he believed he could go.”

Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers on New York’s opening-week loss to the 49ers: “I think we always gotta stay relaxed. It’s a long season. I think, at times, people think the season is like you’re out in the prairie or the desert and you’re wandering around trying to find water. It’s more like a nice, slow Bolero, where we’re just swaying with the music and reacting to whatever comes to us and through us, just trying to not get too high with the highs or too low with the lows.

Raiders wide receiver Davante Adams on Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson: “Dude changed the game. He’s the best, in my opinion, best ball-carrier ever – no matter what position you want to talk about. I don’t think anybody’s as big of a threat carrying the football.”

Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow on his continued recovery from his wrist injury: “It feels great, feels better this week than it did last week, than it did the week before, so it’s continuing to do better.”

Giants quarterback Daniel Jones on blocking out the outside criticism following losing start: “I’ve said a number of times I’m concerned about the people in this building. I think I’ve got plenty of help, plenty of good coaching, plenty of good teammates to work with here. In terms of other people and what they have to say, what they think and their perspective and what their observations are not really important to me.”

Bengals cornerback Cam Taylor-Britt on Chiefs receiver Xavier Worthy: “Speed. That’s about it. He can run straight. Run jet sweeps and just run straight. He can’t do too much else, so that’s about it. I feel like if you put your hands on him, he’s only a hundred-some pounds, so if you put hands on him, you’re gonna stop his speed, so basically get your hands on him.”

The stats

• J.K. Dobbins can become the first Los Angeles Chargers player to post 100+ rushing yards in back-to-back games since Melvin Gordon in 2016
• Alvin Kamara and Ezekiel Elliott enter Sunday’s matchup between the New Orleans Saints and Dallas Cowboys as two of just five players in the NFL with 10,000+ scrimmage yards since 2016
• Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield has thrown 32 touchdown passes since joining Tampa in 2023, the third-most in the NFL behind only Dak Prescott and Jordan Love
• Anthony Richardson enters the weekend having become the first Colts quarterback to throw multiple 50+ yard touchdown passes in the first game of the season since Johnny Unitas in 1967
• Brock Purdy has recorded the most wins and the highest passer rating among 34 quarterbacks with 10+ starts in the league since taking over as starter in Week 14 of the 2022 campaign
• Patriots running back Rhamondre Stevenson has the chance to rush for 100+ yards in back-to-back games for the first time since November 2020 in college at Oklahoma
• Aaron Rodgers is looking to avoid starting a season 0-2 for the first time in his career when the Jets take on the Titans

Watch the San Francisco 49ers at the Minnesota Vikings in Week Two, live on Sky Sports NFL from 6pm Sunday, followed by the Cincinnati Bengals at the Kansas City Chiefs at 9.25pm; Also stream with NOW.

Sky Sports+ has officially launched and will be integrated into Sky TV, streaming service NOW and the Sky Sports app – giving Sky Sports customers access to over 50 per cent more live sport this year at no extra cost. Stream The new EFL season, Test cricket and more top sport with NOW.