Poor Sam Darnold. It’s true that being a well-paid professional athlete is hardly the worst of circumstances for a human being. Yet, we know why one might view Darnold as a sympathetic figure. A man who had a great collegiate playing career at USC, who won a Rose Bowl, and who electrified USC fans on a large scale — creating memories which will last forever — is languishing in pro football, his potential unrealized at the highest level of the sport.
Darnold had ambitions. We all had high hopes for him. Those hopes had brief flickers of possibility but have not turned into a sustained, prosperous reality. It’s unfortunate, and there is some sadness there.
The sadness is underscored by Darnold’s lack of good NFL coaching. His latest coach, Matt Rhule, was just fired by the Carolina Panthers.
Let’s look at Darnold’s road ahead in the NFL and take note of some of the brutal plot twists which have marked his NFL journey: