The Bucs and Sam Darnold – JoeBucsFan.com
The Bucs and Sam Darnold
April 17, 2022
Window opening?
With all sorts of hot chatter the Panthers about to play for Baker Mayfield, Joe has to look at the quarterback the Panthers would ditch — a guy Bucco Bruce Arians endorsed as the third overall pick in 2018.
After retiring as head coach of the Cardinals after the 2017 season, Arians got into broadcasting and quickly became a more vocal fan of his good friend Todd Bowles, who was in his fourth season of playing. stumble as head coach of the Jets.
In 2018, the Jets traded a hefty amount of draft picks to Indianapolis for the No. 3 overall pick and the right to draft quarterback Sam Darnold. Joe will go out on a wild limb and say Bowles asked Whisperer quarterback Arians for his take on Darnold and got a mighty endorsement in return.
Internet searchers will find media stories from 2018 of Arians professing his love for Darnold amid his rookie season, including a breakdown of the movie Arians on TheAthletic.com and an article in the New York Post among others.
Darnold owes $18 million guaranteed this season and it’s a safe bet he’ll be cut if the Panthers complete their move to Mayfield. At this point, Darnold would be out of a job and likely looking to snag somewhere for a minimum contract.
Could the Bucs pounce then? Joe hopes so. Darnold, 24, is a much better QB option than Ryan Griffin and Joe can’t think of anything better for the Arians consultants than spending several hours a week alongside Darnold and Kyle Trask.
Why? A guy named Brady could be playing beach volleyball in Miami next season.
