“Definitely not a guy you should sleep on”

On Sunday, Sam Darnold will come full circle as he tries to lead the Vikings to victory over the Giants in the stadium he called home for the first three years of his career. This time, he will be surrounded by top-notch offensive talent and guided by a competent coaching staff.

He didn’t have those advantages when he played with the Jets at MetLife Stadium from 2018 to 2020. And Brian Burns, the New York Giants’ biggest free agent signing of the offseason, knows the same can be said about his and Darnold’s time together with the Carolina Panthers.

“He’s definitely not a guy to underestimate,” Burns, whose career overlapped with Darnold’s in Carolina in 2021 and 2022, told the New York Post. “Sam is talented. He can run and he’s an incredibly athletic player. The best thing we can do … is manipulate him, get on his nerves and disrupt his timing. If you give him a clean pocket, he can take you down.”

These bad Panthers teams finished 5-12 in 2021 and 7-10 in 2022.

The 2022 team started 3-8 without Darnold before winning four of their final six games when Darnold took over as the starter. Interestingly, these Panthers were 1-6 when Baker Mayfield started.

Mayfield failed to live up to the expectations placed on him as the No. 1 overall pick while playing for the dysfunctional Browns and Panthers, but flourished last season when he finally got the chance to play for a competent organization in Tampa Bay.

The Vikings hope that the same dynamic will develop with Darnold.