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Starting QBs have similar storylines in Vikings-Giants opener
Both starting QBs struggled after they were thrown into the deep end of the pool as rookies in one of America’s toughest sports markets.
NEW YORK — Sam Darnold and Daniel Jones were swiftly dumped into the deep end of NFL debuts, shouldering heavy pressure as young quarterback in the country’s largest media market.
As is often the case in this sink-or-swim league for players at the sport’s most demanding position, the results have failed to match the high hopes raised by their heralded arrival. In what could well be their last chance to convince the league they can still be capable starters for years to come, Darnold and Jones will lead their teams into the same season opener Sunday when the Vikings visit the New York Giants.
Whatever the outcome, it likely won’t bode well for the loser.
Darnold, in his first year with Minnesota after backing up Brock Purdy for the NFC champion San Francisco 49ers last season, was the third overall pick by the New York Jets out of Southern California in 2018. He’s the last rookie quarterback to win a Week 1 start, but the Jets went 4-12 and traded him three years later to the Carolina Panthers.
In 56 career starts, Darnold has 55 interceptions and a 21-35 record.
Though he has found first-string status again with the Vikings, Darnold was clearly signed (for one year and $10 million) to be a temporary bridge from the departed Kirk Cousins to the rookie J.J. McCarthy. He has only been assured of keeping the job because of McCarthy’s season-ending knee injury last month.
“As a young player you can definitely get excited about what the future might hold or what things might look like, but at the end of the day you’ve got to be where your feet are,” Darnold said. “This sport, this position, it’s hard enough as it is. If you start worrying about the wrong things, it’ll come back to bite you.”
Jones was the sixth overall pick by the Giants in 2019 out of Duke as the successor to a fading Eli Manning, whom he replaced two weeks into that rookie season. Though Jones also won that first start, with 336 yards passing and touchdowns on the road against Tampa Bay, he and the Giants struggled through his first three years.
His breakthrough in 2022, which included an NFL-best interception rate and only eight turnovers in 16 games with a career-high 708 rushing yards and the first win by the Giants in the playoffs in 11 seasons, prompted a four-year, $160 million contract that put him among the highest-paid quarterbacks in the league.
What followed in 2023 was simply interceptions, sacks and injuries. Jones missed three games with a neck problem, then tore his ACL in November.
“I spent some time on the sideline, watching the game and wishing you were out there,” Jones said. “I’m excited to be back, certainly grateful and very appreciative of all the help I’ve had throughout this whole journey and people who have done a lot to help me get back.”
The Vikings were partially responsible for the new deal the Giants gave Jones, after he shredded their secondary for two 300-yard performances in a four-game span including the wild card round win at Minnesota on Jan. 15, 2023. With no more guaranteed money on his deal after the season, the Giants would find moving on easier to manage with only his remaining signing bonus proration (about $22.2 million) hitting their salary cap if they were to release him.
Just like Darnold when he was with the Jets, Jones has faced an uphill climb trying to win — and win over the fans — in the New York market.
“Seriously, probably one of the toughest jobs in the league,” Giants wide receiver Darius Slayton said. “But he embraces it, does it well.”
Darnold’s arm strength has always been an asset, but the Vikings have been impressed by the way he’s picked up head coach Kevin O’Connell’s complicated offense in six months of study and practice. He was also voted by his new teammates as one of eight captains for the season.
“He can really spin it. He’s a true leader. I’m excited for him. He already blocks the outside noise out, because I feel like he’s going to prove a lot of people wrong and show who he really is as a quarterback with this opportunity,” running back Aaron Jones said.
”It’s not about what you’ve done in the past. It’s about now. I truly do believe in him. We’ve had the chance to work with him, play with him, and he’s a special talent. A lot of people are sleeping on him, but he’s going to prove them wrong. Early favorite, comeback player of the year.”
The organizations say many Asian Americans are planning to vote despite lack of candidate outreach.
ST PAUL, Minn. — Most people have been contacted in some way shape or form by a campaign in the last few weeks. And if the polls are right and the race for president is a dead heat, every vote will matter.
That’s why this is a head scratcher:
According to a September 2024 voter survey by Asian American Pacific Islander Data, 27% of Asian-American voters said they hadn’t been contacted by either political party trying to get their vote. Last spring, earlier in the voting season, it was even more – 42%.
Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders are the fastest growing racial or ethnic group nationwide.
Their voter participation levels are growing too, with 60% of eligible Asian-American voters turning out in 2020. And AAPI Data reports as many as 90% of Asian Americans they surveyed said they plan to vote this cycle.
“Candidates are not reaching out to Asian Americans, which is a huge mistake,” said ThaoMee Xiong, executive and networking director of the Coalition of Asian American Leaders.
She says even though there are more than 200,000 eligible Asian voters in Minnesota, the Asian vote is under-appreciated.
“Neither the Democratic or Republican parties have been reaching out in huge numbers,” Xiong said. “They’re sending general mailers to everyone but … they need it in their native language.”
That’s why CAAL is partnering with two more organizations to keep voter turnout high and reach anyone candidates or advocates missed.
Xor Xiong is from Asian American Organizing Project, which focuses on engaging metro-area teens and young adults.
“Many of our communities are still facing barriers to go to vote,” he said. “There’s been more times than I like to admit in terms of when I was having a conversation over the phones of voters being surprised that they can take time off to go and vote, or they can bring the kids to the polling locations, or they can even bring someone to translate for them.”
“In Ramsey County, because of the large Hmong American population there, the polls in Ramsey County are federally required to provide interpreters and translated materials,” ThaoMee added.
Their nonpartisan campaign, Get Out the Vote for Asian Minnesotans, aims to get people registered and well-informed.
“Throughout Covid, there was a lot of anti-hate around the AAPI community and we are still feeling the impact of that to this day,” said Amanda Xiong, a community organizer with a group known as CAPI USA. “Even if folks are afraid to go to the polls, due to that, we try our best to then educate them around absentee ballots, voting early.”
“And so yes, there is a huge increase in terms of voter turnout, but then why is it still 70% feel as though they don’t belong?”
In 2021, the FBI reported a 168% increase in anti-Asian hate crimes.
In Brooklyn Park and Brooklyn Center, the groups knocked on at least 700 doors in one session alone while keeping safety top of mind.
“We make sure that there’s a car following all the door knockers,” ThaoMee said. “We put everyone on text chain … and we are putting a lot of precautionary measures in place for the day of voting.”
After the election, the CAAL plans to conduct surveys and send the results to county election officials. They’ve done this before and say it led to policy changes this year at the legislature including measures to ensure people have easier access to interpreters.
Minnesota groups work to encourage Latino voters to get to the polls and dispel misinformation.
MINNESOTA, USA — While the secretary of state publishes polling information in the Spanish Language, experts say there are still challenges when it comes to activating Latino voters. Minnesota groups have been hard at work getting voting information out and challenging misinformation.
Communities Organizing Latine Power and Action (COPAL) says it is still working to inspire Latino voters to the polls days before the election.
Eva Peña is one of the volunteers who spent part of Wednesday at their headquarters on Lake Street, calling Latino voters and making sure questions are answered in either English or Spanish.
“I’ve been able to help people figure out if they’re registered or not to vote,” smiled Peña. “And that part has felt super fulfilling for me.”
About 6% of Minnesota’s population is Latino and COPAL’s organizing director Ryan Perez says language isn’t the only barrier. Fear is a hurdle, too.
“There’s some common myths that folks are still facing,” said Perez. “They think, is it unsafe for me to vote? If I vote, will that put my relative in jeopardy?”
Perez says a myth has spread on social media that if you exercise your right to vote as a citizen, it could put undocumented loved ones at risk of deportation.
The secretary of state’s office reaffirmed Wednesday that all eligible Minnesotans should vote without fear of repercussions.
“As much as we think social media seems deregulated and there’s a lot of false information for English speakers, it’s even more so for non-English speakers,” said Perez.
Annastacia Belladonna-Carrera is the Executive director of Common Cause Minnesota. Her organization runs an election protection program and has volunteers flagging misinformation on social media as part of its efforts.
“If I’m your cousin, or I’m the small business owner where you frequent with your family, and you see me reposting something, you’re gonna be more likely than not to believe that because it’s coming from me, right?” she pointed out.
Belladonna-Carrera says there’s an additional challenge in reaching voters with accurate information in rural areas as well.
“It’s that isolation,” Belladonna-Carrera said. “It’s not just geographic isolation, it’s linguistic isolation.”
But volunteers say it’s not just about showing up, but showing leaders that they need the Latino vote.
“They’ll be thinking about, well, how can I make the how can I make life better for our Latino community?” said Peña.
For more resources in Spanish on how to vote, go to the Secretary of State’s website.
In September 2021, the bodies of four friends were found in a cornfield in western Wisconsin.
MENOMONIE, Wis. — The man accused of helping his son hide the bodies of four people in a western Wisconsin cornfield has been found guilty Wednesday by a jury.
Darren L. Osborne was charged with four counts of hiding a corpse – party to a crime. His son, Antoine Suggs, was convicted of fatally shooting a group of friends in St. Paul.
According to the complaint filed in Ramsey County, on the morning of Sept. 12, 2021, Suggs told Osborne he “snapped and shot a couple of people” in a vehicle on Seventh Street in St. Paul. After Suggs told him what had occurred, Osborne followed Suggs to Wisconsin in a separate vehicle, leaving one of the vehicles with the bodies inside behind. Osborne and Suggs then returned to Minnesota.
The bodies of Nitosha Lee Flug-Presley, Loyace Foreman III, Matthew Isiah Pettus and Jasmine Christine Sturm were discovered inside an SUV left in a cornfield in rural Dunn County. Authorities say they all died from gunshot wounds.
Suggs was sentenced to more than 100 years behind bars for the killings.
In Dunn County court on Wednesday, a jury found Osborne guilty. The state had called Suggs to the stand but court records indicate he was not answering questions.
