Imagine waiting three seasons as a touted quarterback out of high school, only to see a redshirt freshman take away your dream job. That’s exactly what happened with Max Browne with Sam Darnold back in the USC Trojans. The move, understandably, crushed him. However, one thing that the current Seattle Seahawks signal caller told him then has stayed with him all these years later.

“Appreciate the way you’ve handled this,” Browne recalled what Darnold told him in 2016 after he was benched. “Just know that I think you got screwed, too.

“I still appreciate that comment,” he explained. “It came at the lowest point of my life. I had arrived at USC with huge expectations. When I lost the job, I was devastated. A lot of people around me didn’t know what to say, so they wouldn’t say anything. The fact that the guy who did acknowledge my situation was the very guy living out the other path really cut through.”

Browne landed at USC in the spring of 2013 as the No. 2-ranked pocket passer and the No. 20 overall player in the ESPN300. He was the reigning Gatorade Player of the Year. However, when you’re a Trojan, competing becomes your nature, and with Cody Kessler fixed as the primary signal caller, the Washington-born redshirted himself in his freshman season.

In the summer of 2015, though, when Browne was a redshirt sophomore, Sam Darnold showed up as the late riser quarterback of that class. Browne, of course, knew that he had some competition on his hands. With luck siding with him, Browne edged Darnold on the final day of August training camp next year.

His stint lasted three games, and he knew he would never get the chance back.

After a 1-2 record, the program’s first in 15 seasons, Darnold replaced Browne against Utah on the following Friday. He won nine of ten games for the Trojans. This also included the Rose Bowl, pushing Darnold as a rising pro prospect.

Browne threw for 474 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions in those three games. He was sacked six times. But head coach Clay Helton didn’t regret starting the season with him under the center, nor did he wonder about Browne’s benching.

“He is not the reason we’re 1-2. He is not the scapegoat here,” Helton had said of Browne.

Browne recalled how Darnold proved his mettle in the next few games. Still, their bond was tight, and they texted each other despite the outcome. Browne eventually transferred to Pittsburgh for his final year of eligibility. However, bad luck followed him.

As a starter, Browne threw for 1,383 yards, seven touchdowns, and four interceptions, completing 144 of 212 passes (67.9 percent). He was 3-5 as a starter. He had a shoulder injury against Syracuse in 2018, ending his season and college career for good. While he remained hopeful until the very last day before the 2018 season began in the NFL, he eventually accepted his fate.

Interestingly, what many may not know is that Browne was among the local prospects to work out for the Seattle Seahawks in April 2018 at their facility in Renton, Washington. However, while he was given a go for everything, he still didn’t have the one fully-healed thing an NFL QB needed: his throwing arm. He ultimately never got the taste of the NFL.

He completed USC’s MBA program in corporate financing. Browne is now a college football analyst. Things did not pan out the way Browne would’ve wanted for himself as a freshman entering USC. However, he’s learned one huge thing about life and football through Darnold.

Sam Darnold’s approach always impressed Browne

The Seattle Seahawks are the fourth-best NFL offense according to PFF this season, and a lot of credit goes to Darnold. But Max Browne knows how we got to this point.

Since Darnold entered USC, Browne always noticed one thing about him: his perspective.

During a late-night practice in fall camp in his true freshman year, Browne remembers how Darnold went off-script and threw a 50-yard bomb down the sideline. That play didn’t just prove Darnold’s potential but forced their then-offensive coordinator, Tee Martin, to even tout him as “a young Brett Favre!”

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Through it all, Darnold showed an ease and humble confidence that always caught Browne’s attention. He would ask questions that most quarterbacks would flinch to ask, feeling insecure. He didn’t even process mistakes like one would.

He was just like: It happened, I won’t let it impact my next play.

It was a Browne vs Darnold competition on the field. However, the truth was polar opposite off the field. With the two sharing the same friend group and still having after-game parties at Browne’s condo, the two were anything but rivals.

After taking Browne’s QB1 job, Darnold never looked back. He finished the season with a completion rate of 67.2% for 3,086 yards, 31 touchdowns, and only 9 interceptions. He only played another year for the Trojans, taking them all the way to the Cotton Bowl, but lost to Ohio State 24-7.

The New York Jets then selected Darnold as the third overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft. But he couldn’t compete at the same level. He ended his rookie season with a 4-9 record in 13 starts. Having talked to Browne then too, Darnold knew he didn’t play the way everyone expected him to. But he refused to let one bad chapter, or the next six, define what he was.

“He stayed light and kept perspective,” Browne concluded. “That mindset didn’t just help him survive the challenging times — it propelled him to the Super Bowl.”

In his eighth NFL year now, Darnold is finally who he was always meant to be. Through it all, his approach helped him. And now, he is at one of the biggest stages any NFL player would want to be.

Sam Darnold witnesses career resurgence

On February 8, Sam Darnold will step onto the field for the biggest night of his career. He’ll get a chance to finish one of the most dramatic turnarounds the NFL has seen in years. The matchup against the New England Patriots could lead to a full-circle moment, especially after how his career once dipped against that same franchise. 

In 2019, Darnold witnessed one of the most brutal nights of his career while suiting up for the New York Jets. The Patriots rattled him completely, limiting his play to just 86 passing yards while intercepting his passes four times. He couldn’t even score a single touchdown, and that feeling of disappointment and horror stayed with him long after the final whistle. 

“I’m seeing ghosts,” Darnold famously said after the team’s 33-0 blowout loss.

Those struggles only grew worse during a miserable 2020 season after the QB went 2-10. The Jets eventually shipped him to the Carolina Panthers. Darnold bounced between teams before finally breaking through with the Minnesota Vikings. He filled in for injured rookie JJ McCarthy and delivered the best season of his career. With 4,319 yards, 35 touchdowns, and twelve interceptions, he led the team to a 14–3 record and even earned a Pro Bowl selection. But he had more seas to sail.

When the team didn’t retain him, the Seahawks rewarded him with a $100.5 million contract. Darnold performed up to expectations and crossed the 4000-mark in passing. After the NFC Championship win against the Los Angeles Rams, he addressed his old remark.

“Yeah, I almost forgot about that. So thanks,” Darnold joked. “There was a lot that I didn’t know back then, so I’m just going to continue to learn and grow in this great game.”

No matter the Super Bowl result, his journey from punchline to Super Bowl starting quarterback is one for the books. But Darnold can finally learn what Browne said about him back in 2018 after he got drafted and smile about it today:

“At the end of the day, I’m stoked for him and the opportunity he has. He deserves everything he has ahead of him.”