People have inflated expectations for rookie QBs since CJ Stroud set the world on fire his rookie year. People forget QBs like Peyton Manning struggled in his rookie year.
That doesn’t mean they shouldn’t play. (Peyton didn’t break because he started bad.)
That experience matters. And the practices matter, because there aren’t enough in-season reps to develop the rookie as the backup.
This should surprise nobody. Darnold was brought in with the express purpose of being a short-term bridge QB while whichever rookie QB they drafted was trained up. It would’ve taken a Stroud-level rookie QB camp to change that plan. As a Vikings fan I have less than zero expectations for this season but higher hopes for the near future. The only annoying thing is that the division as a whole is taking big leaps forward into one of the overall strongest divisions in the league and it’s taking all this rebuilding effort just to keep up with the other three teams.
![[Rapoport] The #Vikings list QB Sam Darnold as the starter on their initial depth chart, not a surprise.](https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/8f9be1ee-f96f-41ed-b54f-ac40638b96cb.png){kind=link}