Should the Detroit Lions try to orchestrate a trade for Sam Darnold?

Sam Darnold is possibly available now, so should the Detroit Lions be interested in trading for him at all?

In their meandering search for a franchise quarterback, the Carolina Panthers finally made a long-discussed and rumored trade with the Cleveland Browns for Baker Mayfield last week. A competition is supposedly coming between he and Sam Darnold, who was acquired from the New York Jets in 2021.

But we know who that “competition” will be tilted toward. Mayfield will have to be awful or be injured to not be the Panthers’ Week 1 starter, when they happen to play the Browns.

Darnold, the third overall pick in the 2018 draft (two picks after Mayfield) had a rough tenure with the Jets for multiple reasons. Robbie Anderson, who’s been Darnold’s teammate in New York and Carolina, openly stated his opinion that the Jets failed Darnold. It’s fair to say Carolina’s coaching staff didn’t do him many favors last year too.

Should the Lions try to make a trade for Sam Darnold?

Darnold of course made his first NFL start against the Lions back in 2018, and threw a pick-six to Lions’ safety Quandre Diggs on his first career pass attempt. Lions’ fans may argue that was the peak of the Matt Patricia era, launching the team to 48-17 win in Patricia’s first game as head coach.

Darnold’s raw tools–mobility, arm strength–generally pass the eye test. But he has averaged more than an intereption per game in his four-year career (52 in 50 games–49 starts), along with 29 career fumbles.

Like Mayfield, Darnold is set to play out the fifth-year option on his rookie contract this year and make $18.8 million. No team who may even be thinking about trading for him will take on that money as-is, so Carolina will have to eat some. Darnold, like Mayfield, could agree to take a pay cut in order to facilate a trade. The Panthers probably won’t just cut him outright.

The Lions clearly didn’t want to add a veteran who could usurp Jared Goff as their starting quarterback this year. Otherwise, they would have sought an NFL-caliber backup rather than retain Tim Boyle. And Boyle may lose that spot to fellow incumbent David Blough.

Darnold would at best compete to start wherever else he might go, and of course reports quickly said the Panthers have no intent to trade him. In Detroit, he’d fall in as Goff’s clear backup.

Carolina has no leverage in terms of how much of Darnold’s money they want to retain, or what they’d get back in a trade. They’ve put their chips in with Mayfield, and Darnold is now expendable with P.J. Walker and rookie Matt Corral also on the depth chart. If a legit competition for the starting job comes and Darnold wins it, history says Mayfield won’t accept it in a mature fashion.

The Lions should have some interest in Darnold. Boyle’s results as the starter last year in place of Goff, and Blough’s brief run as the starter in 2019, demand leaving no stone unturned for a better backup quarterback.

Maybe that stone has already been turned over by Lions’ general manager Brad Holmes, and talks of a deal for Darnold quickly faded away. But if the financial numbers, any contingencies on a trade return, etc. can be made to work, Darnold would be an upgrade to the quarterback depth chart in Detroit.

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