People are right to have their doubts. Sam Darnold has had one good season out of seven in his career. He was forced into starting for a bad New York Jets team at the beginning of his career, bounced around a bit until he played well for the 2024 Minnesota Vikings, and he turned that into a big contract with the Seattle Seahawks.
But Darnold is not guaranteed to be good again. Ever.
With Minnesota, the quarterback had the advantage of working with one of the best offensive minds in the NFL in the person of Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell, plus throwing to an excellent receiver group that included Justin Jefferson.