Draft Preview - Sam Darnold

We're gonna devote the next couple episodes to individual prospects, and this episode itself, e A is gonna be devoted to someone that many pundits believe is going to be the number one pick on April down in Arlington, Texas, Sam Donald. Sam Donald two year starter at usc A sixty four point nine pastors, fifty seven touch Johnson two interceptions.

Most famously of late, Sam Donald worked out in the rain at his para day and then he also cut one of his pre draft visit short I believe in Cleveland to go back and helped his running back Ronald Jones out went back to southern California and through to him. He's a guy Greens that people talk about his intangibles, a leader, he was a multi sport guy who actually played linebacker in high school. Also a very good basketball player. Went to USC, wasn't guaranteed anything but USC game a shot.

He worked his way up the depth chart and he became the man. And the one thing that a lot of people are saying about Donald is he's big and he can improvise. He can throw a while on the run, and like I said, a leader, you can tell his athletic background. He also played basketball and school and real quick, we're gonna be joined by Sam Farmer of the Los

Angeles Times later on in the show. He's gonna dissect Donald for us as well as a different episode you see la Josh Rosen, but this is the Sam Donald episode on the Official Jet podcast. So we're gonna keep things USC here. And you mentioned Donald's athletic ability, and you can see it when he's not only navigating the pocket, you know, making guys miss from a footwork perspective, and then you know he tucks in and runs here and there.

He's very athletic and like you said, he throws on the run well, and if you watched, he really came onto the scene, at least for me, I think for a lot of fans that follow college football on a broader level than in depth people such as yourself. Was the Rose Bowl against Pence. Yeah, you know, when you look at his numbers, Greens, his numbers were more favorable actually in two thousand sixteen than they were in two thousand seventeen. One of the issues that he's gonna have

to talk about during his pre draft visits was the turnovers. Also, he had a propensity maybe at times for not securing that football with his hands back there in the pocket, and fumbles were an issue. And that's something I know he's working very hard on this offseason because he's not only working out with himself, he's working out with fellow top prospect Josh Allen as both of those guys are getting tutelage under a former pro quarterback, Jordan Palmer, who

is the brother of former USC quarterback Carson Palton. And you know, I think it's funny that a lot of people mentioned Sam Donald's hand size as a concern because he has a nine and three eights in his hand, but he was slinging it in the rain at his pro day, and you talked about it's almost kind of like a movie moment where whoever runs the USC Pro Day said hey, Sam, do you want to push up your throwing time because he was slated for the end

of the pro day. Then he said, no, no, I wanna wait, you know, let it, let it rate, and then he absolutely dominated out there. From many reports that you read that if you saw it looked like he had a great day out there in the rain and a longsleeve shirt and a baseball cap. And to me, a lot of people think that that really cemented himself as the number one overall pick. But Hugh Jackson and John Dorsey of The Cleveland Brown said, this is still

an open yeah. And when you look at the Jets over the last ten draft picks, you see defense everywhere. You gotta go all the way back to Mike Tannebon, former Jets GM was now the full ball architect down in Miami, moved up in order to secure in other USC signal caller Mark Sanchez. Donald could be off the board by the time the Jets select, but there's a lot of smoke this time a year, so maybe the Green and White go on the clock and Donald might

be there still. I'm curious to see what Sam Farmer thinks he has him as number one in his mock draft too. Sam, Let's talk about a guy that's many believe will be the number one overall pick in a couple of weeks here in USC's Sam Donald, and you have him in your mock draft going number one overall to the Cleveland Brown. So from your time covering him, from watching him, what makes Sam Donald unique and what makes him the number one overall pick in your eyes?

You know, I don't know that he is unique, but he's compelling, and he's got some really attractive qualities and and one is he's a winner. And you know, he's a guy that has a charisma that you look for me to sort of rally a team. He has a turnover issues. Um, I think in the past two years. Don't quote me, I think you're quote me. It's uh, it's something on the order of nineteen to fumbles. Um in the past two years. I think he might have

eleven this last season. Uh, second in the nation. So turnovers are an issue, Um, he had He's had to explain that to a lot of teams. And you know Jordan Palmer who has been working with him, Cherson Palmer's brother who says that you know Sam from the moment he met him at like age fourteen, was a dead ringer for Carson at that age probably um, not quite the arm, but more athletic then Carson was at that age.

He's got the part of the typical size. The big strong guy, was a good arm and a really good head on his shoulders. And you know, I can see him being really attractive at the top of the draft. At his pro day, it was I was bran fell On fack. Uh. We were sharing an umbrella there at the pro day because it was really pouring. In fact, Troyman, he even came out to pro day. He hadn't been

the USC campus. Uh. Since that's interesting, But I gotta interrupt it real quick because I was listening to your reading. In fact, you Sam Farmer from the l A Times, and you said, the only time ever that U C l A and USC quarterback we're selected in the same draft. It wasn't a draft with Aikman and Rodney Pete. Yeah. It's crazy, it's it's um, it's really weird. Me. I

take it. A number of great players who have come out of that school, including number one overall picks A quarterback from both schools, and Troy Aikman and and Carson Palmer, the fact that you never had a Trojan and a Brewing quarterback selected in the same drab butt for that one year, and that you, like Rodney Peak, went in sixth round, so you're the number one overall pick and a sixth round or so a guy who you know was select fairly late, and now you could potentially have

to top five or top three players from that school. So it's a it's a spotlight is definitely shining out southern Californias. Did Eigman like what he saw out of Sam Donald? I know you wrote about Donald. He said basically that, hey, this is very interesting. Like you mentioned, it doesn't rain too much in southern California. Unfortunately, we've gotten a lot of precipitation here in New York and New Jersey here this winter that is extending. It appears

till May for us. But enough about the weather. The rain came down from the heavens and Sam Donald said, hey, okay, I don't mind this at all. And by all counts, he had a good day. And everybody talks about his work ethic, his coach ability, him being cool on the clutch and also having those leadership intangible as a guy who played linebacker in high school, who was just a two year starter at USC and now could be the number one overall player in this draft. So yeah, and

I think Troy was impressed. In fact, Tory said, you know, if it had rained on my Pro day, probably wouldn't have been the number of all pick because I just couldn't throw in the rain. And uh, he said, I always had problems a gripping the ball, but Sam obviously didn't. Now Troy had a different kind of Pro day back then, he just worked out for the Cowboys. But you know, one of the things that Jordan Palmer has worked with Sam Donald is gripping the ball with your left hands.

Actually did a lot of this stuff only with his left hand, not at the Pro day, but in working up to the Pro day, just to remind yourself to keep two hands on the football and really grip it. And if you look at something the pictures, he is very making clearly a conservative effort to keep his left hand on the football. A couple of years ago, when the Rams made Jared goff In him on overall pick and made that from number fifteen and number one to get him. Uh, they sent a contingent after Golf's pro

day up to cow to work him out. If you remember the big question about golf, one of the big questions was hand side and its abilty to hold on of the football. And it rained that day at CAW and Goff said, Uh. They said, well, you don't have to postpone the workout, and Stan Crocky was there. Kevin demof less need uh. Jeff Fisher the coach at the time, and he said, no, I definitely want to work out in the rain. And so that was sort of a seminal moment when the Rams talk about golf and when

they sort of fell in love with him. Was that And as you know, Jimmy have On, the owner of the Brown just sitting in the stands in a raincoat with Sam Donald's parents, I'm thinking the same thing. They're gonna fall in love with this guy in the rain. You know, people take notice of that, and that sticks with people. Sam, you've been covering a lot on a fall draft. Do you envision any scenario where Donald gets to three? Um, I don't know that it would be

unlikely at all. The season this is the season a lying h. So you know a season, do you think there's a you know, misdirection and deception that goes on on the field. It's in hyper mode now, so teams are gonna send out all kinds of signals. I said at Je Jackson's table at the coach's breakfast, and he was raving about Baker Mayfield. And you know my take

away from that. Instantly I go to, he's trying to race somebody up and take that four pick and and stare people into thinking Baker's and gone on, and so you better trade into that spot. I mean in my latest mock draft is I have quarterback sketall one to three, four. I have Buffalo trading into the two spot and taking Josh Allen Jets at three, and then Arizona trading up

from twelve to four and taking Baker Mayfield. So I don't think we know if John Allen's number one pick or Sam Donald or Josh Rosen, because people so coud of balls all the time this time of year, in so many alternitive motives. The last one for me because Sam Farmer from the l A Times is not throwing

us any curve balls. He's gonna come in at us with some heat here in terms of Sam Donald Dull just twenty when he starts taking snaps and training camp, I think will finally turn twenty one or once the season commences next year. Do you think teams are really gonna like his upside? Considering you can make an argue and say, hey, listen, his numbers were better when he started as a sophomore as compared to his junior year. And you mentioned his turnovers the propensity for turnovers last season.

But do you think teams are gonna love that upside? Is that here's a guy who has those leadership and tangibles. He's a good thrower of the football. What what people really love, Sam, and you know that the league has changed so much over the years, is this is a guy can improvise and he's very accurate throwing a football on the run. Yeah, yeah, no, I I agree with

all his strength. I think that you can duties in the eye of the beholder with these guys, and you can look at the guy at twenty years old, like Jared Doff was when the lamps to him, and say, look at the upside, look at the potential, and you can look at the photo negative that say, look, it's a young kid, I mean twenty years old, or giving him all this money and all this responsibility. Are you I remember how I was twenty and I was a

lot different in three. Again, it's in the eye of the beholder and sort of what you convince yourself off. But talking to Sam Donald and being around Sam Donald, I think that you don't get the impression that this is a young guy, or that this is a naive or immature guy. In fact, he get the opposite impression, like, wow, he's only twenty years old. Seems like I'm talking to the twenty five year old or older. You know, I

wish I would that mature age. I think that that one weigh in his favor, much like golf, where they say, look at the miles of road out in front of them and the nalyst possibilities and not lgs. We're taking on this headache. It's not even legally old enough to drink. But he's uh done, X, Y and Z. So I I think Sam Donald was Sam Donald's a positive for other players that might be a negative. All right, you

gotta follow him at l A times farmer. He's Sam Farmer and he's covered the National Football League for more than twenty years, even when l A didn't have a team or two teams as they do now. Things are heating up there. Uh. We enjoyed it so much, Sam, and we'll be following you and be looking forward to that next mock draft if you keep Josh Rosen there

with the Jets. Great stuff from Sam Farmer, their greens. Uh. The one thing that stands out to me after talking to Sam right now is that he's been covering a lot of NFL drafts and he knows this time a year is not necessarily league circles known for April showers,

it's known for April smoke. There's a lot of I was wondering where you're gonna go with there is a lot of smoke out there right now league circles because rightfully so, teams do not want to reveal their playbook, right And like Sam Farmer mentioned, is that Hugh Jackson's there at the owners meetings talking about Baker Mayfield and his first thought was that maybe that's baiting someone to trade up to number four. And you know, I'm always curious,

like how much of it you never know? And and that's to me what I think the beauty of the NFL Draft is because I don't think anyone predicted the Bears to trade off one spot for Mitchell Trubisky right after they signed Mike Lennon. No one paid the Kansas City Chiefs to jump up seventeen spots to get Patrick Mahomes, who's gonna be their starting quarterback this year. So that I think it's a tremendous time a year. As we sit here in the studio, I have to say that

Sam Donald is twenty years old. Okay, well, so he's got a lot of Listen, he did a lot of good things in a small sample size that usc you would have to think that he's got a lot of potential. The question I have in champ Anington mentioned this Orlando, Florida. He made a fascinating comparison to Alex Smith when he came out a school, meaning that hey, Alex Smith came out of Utah, say at a young age, and maybe he wasn't ready to take the keys right away, maybe

to sit back and absorb a lot of things. How quickly will Darnal be playing? We don't know where is he gonna go first? I got a good question for you said, Samonlod's twenty years old. If you could buy him one six pack for his twenty first birthday, what would it be and why? Well the six pack? If you could buy him one beer and a beer in the world, I would probably get him what dog Fish Had. If they want to sponsor this official Jets podcast listen, we are open for business. I would give him a

dog Fish Had sixty minute. But I just have Sam have one beer and just after maybe he celebrates, so you keep Yeah, I definitely keep the other and so. But but real quick, is that because you said dog Fish Had because that's your favorite beer, or because you think that's something Sam Donald will like. I think it's a tremendous adult beverage. It's smooth, it's not too powerful, but it has nice hops. And this sounds like Sam Donald.

For folks on the West Coast, I think they would appreciate something like that, and Donald is the West Coast guy. Last last beer question is have you ever had ConA brewing company, because that is big in in the West Coast. A lot of my friends from school like it who are California natives. No, I have not hit all. Right, back to football, now and Sam Donald on the Official Jets podcast Ethan Greenberg and Eric Allen again multiple episodes here breaking down the top prospects in the two thousand

NFL Draft. I wonder what Scott's sink of Donald? When do you think of him in terms of the mechanics and the release, because a lot of people have criticized him a little bit. He has a little hitch and yeah, a little hitch, a little wind up. So that'd be interesting to see in these final weeks as the various organized issues throughout the National Football League are putting their big boards together, what they think of that and when they bring in Donald if he joins their club, are

they going to try to change that? Or is that who he is and that's the way he throws football. Whenever you hear Sam Donald speak in an interview setting, he's very calm. He's very cool and collected. And I was watching an interview with one of his former or I was listening to an interview excuse me, with one of his coaches, and they said, Hey, is that what Sam's like off the field, And said, what you get Sam like in an interview is exactly how he's like

off the field. A fun time to him is hanging out with his buddies and just doing nothing. Well, my thing with him is he's super competitive. I know we talk about that, and you know a lot of folks will say, what are you gonna say that about all these top guys in the two thousand and eighteen draft class. Well, there's a reason they're considered top prospects. And I think

that's an attractive quality to Donald. And it stands out that he is a super competitor and he's gonna want to get it right and he's gonna want to lead your franchise. So I think somebody's gonna take him very early in this draft. Be fascinating to see Greens if he is on the board when the Jets are up there at number three overall, or does Cleveland take him? And if Cleveland doesn't take him, would Acrosstown giants be interested in it? Sam Donald, We don't know that right now.

There are a lot of dominoes that will fall a draft night. That right now is all speculation. And again that's the beauty of what e A called April smoke. There you have it, Sam Donald on the Official Jezz Podcast