We've called Sam Darnold a lot of names during his checkered seven-year career, "bust" being one of the most common.
Maybe in 2024, it's time to call Sam Darnold a fantasy football league-winner.
Darnold certainly looked the part in Sunday's blowout win over Atlanta, shredding the Falcons for 347 yards and five touchdown passes. It was Darnold's fourth straight game with multiple TD passes and zero interceptions. He's currently the QB1 on the Week 14 leaderboard, and assured of his seventh finish inside the Top 10 at the position. Darnold's been bankable just about every week.
Darnold's spreading the fantasy goodness to his primary targets. Jordan Addison (8-133-3) caught three of those Darnold touchdowns Sunday, Justin Jefferson (7-132-2) the other two. That's the narrow target tree we know and love. Addison chased up to 35.3 fantasy points on the day (the WR1), with Jefferson scoring 28.7 points (the WR2).
Darnold's season has been all about chunk plays and consistency. He entered Sunday with a juicy 8.2 YPA and that number was a robust 12.4 Sunday. He's posted a rating over 100 in 11-of-13 starts. There's a floor to go with the upside here.
Head coach Kevin O'Connell is one of the best passing game designers in the league and surely deserves a lot of credit for the Darnold breakout. We've seen KOC work some miracles before. But maybe the timing was finally right with Darnold. He was poorly supported during his time with the Jets and Panthers. Maybe he picked up some key things in the one year in San Francisco, when he hardly played.
To be fair, Atlanta's secondary was one of the green matchups on the slate. The schedule gets (theoretically) harder to finish, albeit next week's opponent, Chicago, is currently getting torched by the 49ers. After that, it's Seattle and Green Bay. At least two of the games are at home.
But this is an infrastructure I want to bet on. Jefferson often looks like the best receiver in football and Addison — a Biletnikoff winner in college — has to be one of the best WR2s. T.J. Hockenson (4-45-0 Sunday) is a credible third piece. And the consistency we talked about lets fantasy managers sleep at night.
Minnesota, of course, moved on from Kirk Cousins in the off-season. He didn't fare well in Sunday's revenge game spot. Oh, the Falcons moved the ball plenty, but Cousins threw two picks and didn't have a touchdown pass for the four straight game. This offense crushes your soul every week.
Darnell Mooney (6-142-0) made the most of seven targets and Drake London (5-70-0) was passable, though we wanted more from his 10 opportunities. Kyle Pitts has vanished from the offense (1-14-0). The Atlanta coaching staff continues to back Cousins, but you wonder what would have to happen for Michael Penix Jr. to get a chance. Sure, they're paying Cousins that exorbitant salary, but they also used a first-round pick on Penix. This is why most teams don't throw heavy resources at more than one quarterback.
Maybe a trip to Vegas will help Cousins get his groove back in Week 15. After that, the Giants and Commanders come calling.
Note: I'll continue to add Week 14 analysis as Sunday unfolds.