00:00You know, months removed from winning the Super Bowl, Warren, take that Sam Darnold story.
00:05Here's a guy that was on so many different football teams, and here he is, a Super Bowl champion.
00:11And how about this stat here, Warren?
00:13Since 2022, he has the highest win percentage of any starting quarterback in the National Football League.
00:21How did he turn it around?
00:23He just got in the right environment, first of all.
00:26You know, the quarterback draft for quarterbacks is not a complete science.
00:32And a lot of quarterbacks go to bad football teams that are good quarterbacks coming out of college.
00:37But when you get in that bad situation, it can really hurt your confidence and really affect the way you
00:44actually play the game.
00:45So he moved around to a lot of different situations and finally found a couple that were really good for
00:50him.
00:50I think going to Minnesota was good for him.
00:54I think going to San Francisco before he went to Minnesota was good for him, just to get around some
01:00good structure and really get back into the game and not have to be the guy on the field at
01:05that time.
01:06He was just a backup there and really found himself again.
01:10And then when he got his chance to go to Minnesota, he made the most of it.
01:13And, of course, Seattle, again, it just kept improving.
01:17His confidence has so much to do with being a quarterback.
01:20And then also your environment that's around you has a lot to be with if you're going to be a
01:23good quarterback or not.
01:25And Sam finally found situations that helped him get his confidence back.
01:29And he also found situations where he had a good infrastructure around him that helped him become successful again.
01:36How about this, Warren?
01:38Do you think going through all of that and that journey that he went through, because you've told me this
01:45before, quarterbacks learn from the lows, not so much from the highs.
01:49And so when you get around, when you see good coaching and you feel good coaching and the most important
01:55thing where you feel wanted, I mean, all of those experiences, do you think that played out this past year
02:01for him in Seattle?
02:03Oh, there's no question about it.
02:04I think it was the same way in Minnesota.
02:06He felt wanted there because they sought him out and they brought him in there and all the other situations
02:13as well.
02:14He went to a very dysfunctional situation when he went to the Jets out of college.
02:19And then when he went to Carolina, they were a team that was still trying to find themselves.
02:24But when he went to San Francisco, he went to a stable organization there that had been successful for many,
02:30many, many years.
02:31Great head coach there.
02:32And then he goes on to Minnesota where, you know, Kevin O'Connell is like a quarterback whisperer.
02:38He kind of takes quarterbacks and makes them, you know, better players.
02:42And he really prospered from that situation.
02:45So, yeah, being in situations where you want it and it's a good, healthy environment for you to learn in,
02:52that has a whole lot to do with a quarterback being successful.
02:56How about the change at coordinator with Clint Cooper now not being there and they're going with Brian Flurry here?
03:03You know, I tell people this all the time.
03:05Just because you have the same playbook doesn't mean it's going to be executed the same because it's like somebody
03:11reading a newspaper versus another people.
03:13Somebody's going to deliver the content completely different in how they do it.
03:17Is that the same when it comes to being a coordinator?
03:20You can read the same plays, but situational play calling.
03:23Is that going to be something you're going to keep an eye on this year when it comes to having
03:27changed that offensive coordinator?
03:30Well, that's something that happens between Brian and Sam.
03:34They're going to get together and really get to know each other very well this summer.
03:38I'm sure they probably have.
03:41When it comes down to play calling, those two are going to spend a lot of time together to figure
03:45out, you know, what Sam likes in certain situations, what Brian likes to call in certain situations.
03:50And he had to go through that same type of structure with Kubiak.
03:58So it's a learning process.
04:00There's no question about it.
04:01But a lot of the same concepts that he learned in Seattle last year, Brian's bringing those in along with
04:08some other things that's going to spruce that offense a little bit from San Francisco.
04:12And Sam was in San Francisco, so he knows a little bit about what they used to do there.
04:17So I don't think the learning curve is going to be that difficult for Sam because of all the familiarity
04:22between the two.
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