Sam Darnold: 'I'm Confident I Can Be One of the Best QBs in the League'

There's a different level of energy coming from Sam Darnold. Can it continue past OTAs?

Sam Darnold had a different type of exuberance to him when he walked into the press conference room at Bank of America Stadium on Tuesday afternoon to meet with the media. Typically, Darnold is relatively quiet and goes directly to the podium without saying anything more than, "hey guys" to the media. 

Tuesday was different. He walked in with a different attitude and had a good energy about him. Heck, believe it or not, he actually opened up a little bit and had some fun with it. 

"I think I try to come with that mindset every offseason," Darnold responded when asked about having a different energy about him. "I try to have an edge, a certain focus about me. It's not because of a situation or what have you, it's just the mindset you've got to have coming into OTAs and trying to get everything right with the new system and trying to feel out personnel. I'm just trying to feel it out and have a great attitude about it."

Maybe spending that time with Cam Newton in the latter half of the 2021 season did him some good. It's possible that seeing how Newton believed in himself and had the confidence to get the job done rubbed off on Darnold. 

Speaking of confidence, Darnold was full of it on Tuesday. He discussed how he believes how good of a quarterback he can still be.

"It really starts with just understanding the offense, understanding the defense and really going out there with the confidence that as long as I know what we're doing, what the defense is doing, I'm confident I can be one of the best quarterbacks in the league. Right now it just comes with preparing, understanding the system and really making sure I got it down."

To some, that's probably a bit of a "bold statement", but what do you expect the guy to say? Of course, he's going to believe in himself, as he should. 

After struggling to regain his early season success in 2021, Darnold said that one of the biggest areas of his game that he has worked hard to improve on is his footwork which at times, he felt he was too "loose" and "chaotic" a year ago. Head coach Matt Rhule has taken notice and pointed to that being the biggest improvement he's made.

"I think it's his feet," Rhule said. "I think he's bought into Ben's way of doing things and I think you see a calmness to him. To your guys' point, there's no rush. There's no 300-pound gut trying to tackle him. But from a technical aspect, I think you see development happening with him which is important."

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