For Darnold, it meant flaming out as the Jets’ quarterback after three years, then bouncing to Carolina and San Francisco before emerging as a legitimate starter last year with Minnesota. Darnold and Mayfield overlapped on the 2021 Panthers, who went 7-10 and fired their coaching staff midseason and again after the season.
Now they are two of the best QBs in the NFL — Mayfield has the Buccaneers at 3-1 and primed for their third straight playoff appearance, while Darnold has the Seahawks at 3-1 and is playing arguably better than he did last year for the Vikings. They square off Sunday in Seattle.
“Sam and I are really close,” Mayfield said. “From going a couple different places that weren’t great for us to having a good opportunity elsewhere, it’s fun to see. I knew he just needed that chance, and he’s thriving now. It’s good to see, but hopefully not this weekend.”
Mayfield, 30, is battling inconsistency to start the season. Though he has thrown eight touchdowns against just one interception, his completion percentage is down 12 points from last year to just 59.7. But Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald called Mayfield “probably the best in the league” at extending plays. And Mayfield has been clutch in the fourth quarter, leading last-minute scoring drives to beat the Falcons, Texans, and Jets, while almost pulling off a comeback over the Eagles.
“I think his second year in the offense, the intelligence he’s shown — taking it over and understanding what’s trying to be done to him and checking to the right play — speaks volumes,” Buccaneers coach Todd Bowles said. “He’s been doing that the last two minutes the past couple weeks, so it’s been great to see.”
In the big picture, Mayfield has been a gift to the Tampa Bay organization — a guy off the scrap heap in 2023 who developed into a legitimate franchise quarterback, currently plays on a contract worth half the going rate ($33 million per year, 19th), and has developed a deep connection with his teammates and fans with the toughness, moxie, and sheer joy that he plays with every Sunday.
“Bake, he’s a competitor, he’s pretty fiery with it,” Darnold said. “It’s cool to be able to watch some of his tape too when he runs for a first down, gets the crowd into it. I’ve always loved that part of Baker’s game, just the way that he plays with so much energy and you can see the passion he has for the game.”
Darnold, meanwhile, is proving two things in 2025: He’s not just a creation of Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell, and he’s not a one-year wonder.
Darnold was last year’s surprise breakout star after he unexpectedly got the Vikings’ starting job because of an injury to J.J. McCarthy, and finally achieved the potential that scouts saw in 2018. Darnold threw for 4,319 yards, 35 touchdowns, and 12 interceptions, and led Minnesota to a 14-3 record, though it ended meekly with a loss in the wild-card round of the playoffs.
The Vikings, though, opted to move forward with McCarthy and let Darnold hit the market, a decision that could have major consequences for the Vikings and Seahawks.
The Vikings are 2-2 and risk wasting a Super Bowl-caliber roster between an injured and ineffective McCarthy and journeyman Carson Wentz. The Seahawks, meanwhile, swooped in with a three-year, $105 million contract for Darnold to replace Geno Smith, and Darnold has been fantastic.
Now playing for offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak, Darnold is No. 7 in the NFL with a 106.5 passer rating, with career highs in completion percentage (70.0) and yards per attempt (9.1). The Seahawks have won three straight, with victories over the Steelers and Cardinals on the road and a blowout of the Saints at home.
To be fair, even the Seahawks didn’t know how Darnold would adjust to a new team and coaching staff, and playing the majority of his games outdoors. Darnold’s contract has an escape hatch after one season in which Seattle would not owe him any more money. But right now it doesn’t look like the Seahawks would want to bail.
“Sam’s playing out of his mind right now,” Macdonald said last week. “You see him and he’s such a cool customer. He is a guy on a mission. He’s just so determined for us to be a great team and a great offense. He’s doing a great job leading us.”
Darnold is in his eighth NFL season and on his fifth team, but he’s still only 28 years old. With stints under quarterback gurus like O’Connell and the 49ers’ Kyle Shanahan, Darnold is now the quarterback the Jets envisioned when they took him No. 3.
Mayfield has reveled in making his former teams pay for their impatience. Darnold doesn’t want to engage.
“Baker may be a little bit more outspoken about it,” Darnold said. “For me, I come in here every single day, I do my job. Whatever I think about people or places, it doesn’t matter.”
Between Mayfield, Darnold, the Bills’ Josh Allen and Ravens’ Lamar Jackson, the 2018 draft class might now be the best in NFL history. It goes to show the importance of patience with young quarterbacks.
“A wise man once said, ‘Players are allowed to get better,’ and that’s something we believe in here,” said Macdonald, referencing Smith, another quarterback the Seahawks helped resurrect. “I’ve got a lot of respect for Baker … and I think Sam’s writing a heck of a story for himself, too, right now.”
K-BALLS
Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio didn’t engage much with reporters during Tuesday’s press conference, keeping his answers brief. When they ran out of questions, Fangio let them know what was really on his mind — how ticked off he was that the Buccaneers had connected on field goals of 65 and 58 yards in Sunday’s game, with the line of scrimmage the 47- and 40-yard lines, respectively.
“These kicking balls that they changed this year have drastically changed the kicking game, field goals in particular,” said Fangio, who has coached in the NFL since 1986. “It’s almost like they need an asterisk here. It was the live ball era or the asterisk for those home runs (Barry) Bonds and (Sammy) Sosa and (Mark) McGwire were hitting. The NFL, the kicking ball has drastically changed the field goals.”
Fangio is referring to the rule change approved by NFL owners during the offseason to allow kickers to scuff and prepare their six K-balls during the week, similar to how quarterbacks prepare their 12 footballs, as we all learned in Deflategate. Since K-balls were introduced in 1999, kickers and punters only had about two hours before kickoff to prepare them fresh out of the box. This year, the K-balls simply must pass a pregame inspection by the officials, similar to the quarterback footballs.
Fangio believes the rule is responsible for an explosion of 60-yard field goal attempts. Jaguars kicker Cam Little hit a 70-yarder in a preseason game, and Fangio predicted the Cowboys’ Brandon Aubrey would be the first to do it in the regular season.
“I mean, who thought they would hit a 65-yarder the other day?” Fangio said. “So, its drastically changed the game, the kicking game and the field goal. Guys have longer range than they used to. Kind of like Brady Anderson with the Orioles and he went from [16] homers to 50 in one year.”
Unacceptable Brady Anderson slander aside, the numbers don’t fully support Fangio’s claim. So far this year, kickers are 4 of 7 from 60-plus yards, with makes from 60, 62, 64, and 65 yards.
Last year through four weeks, under the old rules, kickers were 3 of 7, with makes from 60, 63, and 65.
Yes, kickers are bombing away more often than they did in 2023 and beyond, but it might just be because kickers are working more on it, and the ball travels better in September than in cooler months. Plus, the league-wide field goal success rate of 83.4 is the second lowest of the last 10 years.
But Fangio is probably right, that allowing kickers to prepare game balls during the week makes them easier to kick on Sunday.
“The NFL wants more points? There it is,” Eagles special teams coordinator Michael Clay said.
BIG HEADACHE
Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders hasn’t played a snap yet, but he’s already proving everybody right.
Sanders was thought to be a first-round talent but fell to the Browns in the fifth round, and we are seeing why — he’s a big headache for a third-string quarterback.
A week ago, Deion Sanders admitted they steered Shedeur away from the Ravens and Eagles in the draft because he didn’t want to be stuck behind an established veteran (Lamar Jackson is out this weekend and possibly longer, by the way). Then Shedeur Sanders gave an interview where he claimed he’s “capable of doing better” than several quarterbacks currently playing. On Wednesday, Sanders brought more attention to himself with a pantomime routine during another media session. And don’t forget he was cited twice for excessive speeding in June.
That’s a lot of noise from someone who can’t crack the two-deep depth chart.
“No team in the NFL wants their third-string quarterback to be going viral for anything inside of the locker room,” analyst Jason McCourty said this week.
The 1-3 Browns changed quarterbacks this week with the offense ranked 31st in scoring (14 points per game) and Joe Flacco throwing six interceptions against just two touchdowns. Notably, they promoted rookie Dillon Gabriel to the starting role, and made Flacco the backup, keeping Sanders at No. 3 (and probably No. 4 behind Bailey Zappe, no matter what the coaches say publicly). Sanders hasn’t shown anything to prove he deserves to play, or that NFL teams were wrong to pass over him.
PATRIOTS-BILLS NOTES
A few Patriots-Bills notes before Sunday night’s showdown in Orchard Park:
▪ The Bills have won 8 of 11 meetings since Tom Brady left New England, with two of the Patriots’ wins coming in the “wind game” in 2021 and last year’s Week 18 debacle that cost the draft’s No. 1 pick.
▪ Mike Vrabel played the Bills in five straight years when he was coaching the Titans (2018-22), going 2-3. The most recent matchup was a 41-7 Bills romp in September 2022.
▪ The Bills are looking to start 5-0 for the fourth time in franchise history, and first since 1991.
▪ More fuel for the Drake Maye/Josh Allen comparisons, per NFL Next Gen: Allen (+40.3) and Maye (+34.8) rank first and second in the NFL in dropback Expected Points Added this season. They both average 7.1 air yards per attempt, use play-action at nearly the same rate (Allen 24.5 percent, Maye 25.8 percent), and scramble to run at a similar rate (Allen 10.5 percent, Maye 9.9 percent).
▪ This will be another big tackling day for the Patriots’ defense, which had a lot of whiffs the first few weeks. The Bills have 557 yards after the catch, third most in the NFL, and running back James Cook leads the NFL with 15 missed tackles forced between the tackles.
▪ The Patriots’ Stefon Diggs has caught 19 of his 22 targets (86.4 percent), the highest catch rate among wide receivers with 15 targets.
▪ Related to the Bills’ shaky run defense: The Patriots have utilized Pony personnel (two running backs) on 21 plays this season, the most in the NFL (Chiefs, 18).
BIG MAC
Jones’s play gives 49ers
While Patriots fans seem more than happy with Drake Maye, it is noteworthy that Mac Jones is suddenly playing like a top-15 quarterback in San Francisco. Jones improved to 3-0 as Brock Purdy’s fill-in with Thursday night’s gritty win over the Rams, throwing for 342 yards and two touchdowns to help the 49ers improve to 4-1.
“He played his [rear end] off,” coach Kyle Shanahan said. “Going against that defense and throwing the ball that many times and not having a turnover and protecting it like he did, I can’t say enough good things about Mac.”
Shanahan probably doesn’t want to think about a quarterback controversy right now, just because he’s gone through so many of them over the years with Jimmy Garoppolo, Trey Lance, and Purdy. The ink is barely dry on Purdy’s $265 million extension that averages $53 million per year.
But the fact is that Purdy can’t stay healthy right now — he could potentially miss at least one more game with turf toe — and Jones is playing pretty darn well, with six touchdowns and one interception while averaging 303 passing yards. Jones is also, noticeably, doing it for a fraction of the cost — two years and $8.4 million.
The 49ers are probably stuck with Purdy for another year since they owe him $47 million fully guaranteed in 2026. Jones was also magnanimous about his role on the team.
“They brought me here to play as a backup and that’s my job. Brock’s the starter of this team,” he said.
But Jones has to be giving the 49ers something to think about.
Through four weeks the NFL has seen 11 special teams touchdowns, the most in 13 seasons. Curiously, only one of those touchdowns has been a kickoff return (the Patriots’ Antonio Gibson), but the new rules are still working. The 3,624 kickoff return yards amassed last week were the most in NFL history … Congrats if you had Russell Wilson at three weeks and Joe Flacco at four in the “when will the rookie quarterbacks replace the veterans?” pool. Spencer Rattler’s days (0-10 career as a starter) seem numbered for Tyler Shough … If the 4-0 Eagles keep winning, and A.J. Brown keeps not producing, it becomes a lot easier to justify trading the receiver by the Nov. 4 deadline. It’s worth mentioning since Brown has a great relationship with Mike Vrabel, grew up a Patriots fan, and plays a position of need in New England … Starting quarterbacks since 1999: Browns 41, Bears 31, Commanders 29. The Patriots have had 10. … Bengals coach Zac Taylor said he has “unwavering” support for QB Jake Browning. It might cost the 2-2 Bengals their season … Colts cornerback Xavien Howard started all four games this year, but allowed 14 catches in 20 targets and got roasted for 112 yards and a touchdown last week in a loss to the Rams, and decided that he had had enough. Howard, a two-time All Pro for Miami from 2016-23 who was out of football in ’24, retired abruptly last week. “My purpose has been fulfilled in this sport,” he said. “My kids are more important to me than football.”
Ben Volin can be reached at ben.volin@globe.com.
