Brought to Minnesota to be a bridge to the next generation, Sam Darnold is now leading one of the hottest teams in the league and the potential No 1 seed in the NFC. Yes, really!

Before this season, Sam Darnold’s strongest contribution to the NFL canon was “seeing ghosts”.

Darnold was one of several quarterbacks selected early in the first round to wash out with the New York Jets. After leaving Florham Park, he bounced between backup and bridge-starter roles in Carolina and San Francisco before winding up in Minnesota. Now he’s leading one of the hottest teams in the NFL. As injuries and attrition continue to knee-cap the Lions, the Vikings are making a late surge for the No 1 seed in the NFC – and potentially home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.

Given his environment, it’s easy to overlook Darnold’s individual development. He’s working with one of the sport’s finest offensive minds, a star-packed receiving corps, a bruising run game and a reliable tight end. Early in the season, Darnold was aided by the Vikings’ scheme and a set of the best bookend tackles in the league. In recent weeks, though, Darnold has been shelled, with the Vikings routinely conceding pressure rates upwards of 40%. But outside of a pair of errors on Monday night against the Bears, Darnold’s game has risen as his offensive line has slipped away.

The Darnold of 2024 is not the same player he was with the Jets. He has evolved. Darnold’s accuracy has improved. He’s making plays on the move. He’s hitting tight-window throws at a league-leading clip. Whereas he was once the most panic-riddled quarterback in the league, he has a new-found sense of calm with the Vikings. In New York, Darnold folded against pressure and turtled when blitzed. These days, Darnold is one of the league’s best quarterbacks when the pocket is caving in. He is fifth in the league in “plus accuracy” this season when under pressure, a measure of how often he throws his target open. That’s behind only CJ Stroud, Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen and Joe Burrow, according to Pro Football Focus.

Back when he was seeing ghosts, defenses attacked Darnold by tagging an extra player into the pass rush and blurring their coverage on the back end. Pairing extra heat with a wonky defensive rotation scrambled the quarterback’s decision-making. During his ill-fated three seasons with the Jets, Darnold threw 39 interceptions, including 23 against the blitz. He struggled to see the field and lofted panicked throws into congested areas.

The same what-is-he-thinking decisions have dotted this season, too. He’s up to 11 interceptions and 18 turnover-worthy plays in 14 starts. But much of the ugliness has been stripped from his game. He’s navigated pressure as well as any quarterback in the league, getting rid of the ball in-rhythm and showing a sense for creating plays on the fly. And against the blitz, Darnold has been money this year. When defenses send five or more pass-rushers this season, Darnold has completed 73% of his passes, averaging 12.2 yards per attempt and thrown 12 touchdowns to zero interceptions. This season, his turnovers have largely come on erratic decisions outside the pocket or trusting his receivers to come down with 50-50 balls.

The idea of Darnold being the one to gag a game away is also a thing of the past. When games are tight, he improves. If you’re checking off the traits of a franchise starter, he’s ripping through the list.

What we’ve seen this season is not a quarterback finally delivering on their potential, but a player who has redefined his game.

His growth makes Darnold the most intriguing free agent this offseason. Is the rest of the league buying his transformation from a ho-hum, error-strewn backup into a legitimate starter? Is he Ryan Fitzpatrick or Geno Smith? We will soon find out.

The success of Darnold coupled with McCarthy’s injury has left the Vikings with a fascinating dilemma: will they re-sign Darnold to a bumper contract or begin the transition to McCarthy and let Darnold walk?

When Darnold hits the open market, the benchmark for his next contract will likely be Baker Mayfield’s deal with the Bucs. Like Darnold, Mayfield was a former first-round pick who flamed out in his original spot before reinvigorating his career elsewhere. In Tampa, Mayfield showed his credentials as a starter on a one-year, prove-it deal and was rewarded a three-year, $100m contract from the Bucs. But Mayfield did not join an organization that had already selected their heir apparent.