SAN FRANCISCO – Will Sam Darnold’s example inspire NFL teams to be more patient with quarterbacks? Josh McDaniels, who supervised Tom Brady, would like so.
Certainly, Darnold’s experience with the New York Jets ended in resounding failure. Darnold was drafted third overall in 2018 and he was supposed to save the organization. But, at that time, Darnold was far from ready to take on this mission. Therefore, he was ridiculed by several supporters.
Then, he was rejected by teams during his journey which took place with the Panthers, the 49ers and the Vikings before ending up with the Seattle Seahawks whom he has just led to the ultimate game.
For the Vikings, even a 14-win season wasn’t enough to establish themselves long-term.
That’s why McDaniels pleaded this week to increase patience with the most demanding position in the sporting universe.
“Now it’s different to supervise quarterbacks compared to 15-20 years ago. The way they play at the university level is no longer the same. When they arrive in the NFL, they have evolved in a different system. Many have never managed the caucus. That’s another story,” said McDaniels, who worked with the Patriots from 2001 to 2008 and from 2012 to 2021 before returning to the organization in 2025.
By force of circumstances, McDaniels had to adjust his level of patience. After all, you don’t always have the privilege of managing Tom Brady.
“You have to be patient, because if you want to teach them everything they have never experienced before, it takes time. Luckily I have kids aged 21, 19, 15 and 13 and they are identical to the players. If you want young people to do things the right way and repeatedly, it takes time and patience,” noted McDaniels, who was very interesting.
Some names come to mind like Caleb Williams, CJ Stroud, Bryce Young, Trevor Lawrence, Baker Mayfield, Daniel Jones… We could have continued this list for a long time.
The quarterback guru inherited another gem in Drake Maye. In his rookie season, Maye and the Patriots had to settle for a 4-13 record. But we could detect that its evolution would be interesting.
Except that Maye accelerated the process dramatically. No one would have predicted that he would come within a whisker of earning the NFL MVP award by leading his team to a 14-3 record.
“It’s a little different approach, but it’s been really nice to go through that process with Drake this season. That includes Tommy DeVito (3e quarterback of the Pats) who is still young as a quarterback. They will eventually learn and we must believe in them,” he pleaded.
Of course, the dilemma is complex for NFL organizations. It’s not much better if they decide to be too patient and their quarterback never develops as desired.
It’s a bit like leaders have to play a balancing act. In a world that involves billions, patience is often in short supply.
We arrive at the crucial point identified by McDaniels for patience to pay off.
“The success of the quarterbacks is based on the right marriage with the organization, the offensive system, the offensive coaches and patience. Some arrive more ready and others less. But that doesn’t mean they won’t become excellent players. Sometimes you ask these players to do certain things quickly, but they are not yet ready to do everything you would like. We have to make it happen,” McDaniels said.
To be consistent with what he advocates, McDaniels limited his strategies with Maye at the start of the campaign.
“It was very important for us to determine where Drake was in his journey. If we hadn’t known that, we would have made mistakes with him. Now we can try to take it as far as possible. He’s growing every day and even more so with every practice this week,” said McDaniels.
Owner Robert Kraft also had a role to play in the Patriots’ quick return to the Super Bowl. Kraft chose to go for it and invest the package (more than $350 million) during the off-season in order to acquire impact players who meet the vision of new head coach Mike Vrabel.
“Every successful organization or company is based on good people working there. Mike brought people with him, it starts from the top of the pyramid. Sometimes you have to make tough decisions (like firing Jerod Mayo), but it takes a lot of people pulling in the same direction,” concluded McDaniels.
