Sam vs The Record Books: Week 4

What a difference a couple of weeks makes. Two weeks ago Sam Darnold was off to a pretty good start to his career and was trending towards the top of many quarterback metrics among all time NFL rookie quarterback leaders. Two weeks later Darnold has hit a rough patch and is no longer anywhere near the top in most categories.

A few things to keep in mind. All rankings are limited to quarterbacks with at least 250 passing attempts in their rookie seasons. There have been 72 rookie quarterbacks with 250 or more passing attempts in the post merger era. Rate stats (like completion %) reflect actual current numbers for Darnold. Counting stats (like touchdowns or yards) reflect prorated numbers for Darnold assuming (and this is a huge assumption early in the season) he continues to perform at the same level all season.

Let’s get to it. Below are a bunch of quarterback metrics, listing the all time rookie leaders for each and showing where Sam Darnold fits assuming he plays at the same level all season.

Yards

1. Andrew Luck 4374
2. Cam Newton 4051
3. Jameis Winston 4042
4. Carson Wentz 3782
5. Peyton Manning 3739

...

9. Sam Darnold 3472

Touchdowns

1. Peyton Manning 26
2. Russell Wilson 26 (Tie 1)
3. Andrew Luck 23
4. Dak Prescott 23 (Tie 4)
5. Jim Kelly 22

...

20. Sam Darnold 16 (Tie)

Interceptions

1. Peyton Manning 28
2. Jim Zorn 27
3. Terry Bradshaw 24
4. Jeff Komlo 23
5. Steve DeBerg 22

...

9. Sam Darnold 20 (Tie)

Passer Rating

1. Dak Prescott 104.9
2. Robert Griffin III 102.4
3. Russell Wilson 100
4. Ben Roethlisberger 98.1
5. Dan Marino 96

...

34. Sam Darnold 72.6 (Tie)

Yards/Attempt

1. Ben Roethlisberger 8.88
2. Robert Griffin III 8.14
3. Dak Prescott 7.99
4. Russell Wilson 7.93
5. Matt Ryan 7.93

...

23. Sam Darnold 6.83

Completion Percentage

1. Dak Prescott 67.8
2. Ben Roethlisberger 66.4
3. Robert Griffin III 65.7
4. Teddy Bridgewater 64.4
5. Russell Wilson 64.1

...

27. Sam Darnold 57.5

Touchdown Percentage

1. Dan Marino 6.8
2. Russell Wilson 6.6
3. Jim Plunkett 5.8
4. Ben Roethlisberger 5.8 (Tie 3)
5. Steve Bartkowski 5.1
6. Robert Griffin III 5.1 (Tie 5)
7. Marcus Mariota 5.1 (Tie 5)
8. Jake Plummer 5.1 (Tie 5)

...

41. Sam Darnold 3.1

Interception Percentage

1. Dak Prescott 0.9
2. Robert Griffin III 1.3
3. Nick Foles 1.9
4. Charlie Batch 2.0
5. Derek Carr 2.0 (Tie 4)

...

46. Sam Darnold 3.9

It’s very early in Sam Darnold’s rookie year, so we should take these metrics with a large grain of salt at this point, but the numbers aren’t looking so good to date. Darnold currently ranks near the bottom of the league in just about every major statistical category. While rookies generally struggle a bit, the ones who end up being good players generally show at least one area of statistically above average play early on. Still plenty of time to turn things around, but thus far Sam Darnold hasn’t shown any area of statistically above average play. We’ll track these numbers throughout the year and see how this unfolds.