NFL Notes: Sam Darnold, Cardinals, Lions

Sam Darnold

USC QB Sam Darnold was asked about the recent report that he may stay in college for two more seasons, as opposed to entering the 2018 draft to which he said he’s “taking it one year at a time.”

“I’m really just taking it one year at a time honestly,” Darnold told ESPN, via the New York Daily News. “That’s my mindset. I don’t know where he got his information from. I’m really just taking it one year at a time.”

Darnold also said he thinks teams shouldn’t purposely lose games to better position themselves in next year’s draft to take him.

“I don’t think any team should tank their season because of me,” Darnold said.

Cardinals

Cardinals HC Bruce Arians explained in his new book that allowing quarterbacks to be confident is far more important than forcing them to do things and run plays you feel are best suited to their gameplan.

“I’ll also ask my quarterback at our Friday meeting to give me his 15 favorite pass plays. Then I’ll get 15 running plays from the coaches and I’ll script the first 30 plays. If there is a pass play that I really want to include in those first 30, I’ll put it on the projector and make my case to the quarterback. But if he strongly disagrees, then I’ll let him win that argument,” Arians explained, via the Arizona Republic. “Remember: Players make plays, not coaches. So it’s vital that the quarterback be comfortable with the plays we will run. Because if he’s not, no matter how much I’m in love with a certain play design, it won’t work if my quarterback can’t execute it.”

Lions

• Tim Twentyman considers Golden Tate, Marvin Jones Jr., and rookie Kenny Golladay as locks to make the 53-man roster this summer.
• According to Twentyman, this leaves T.J. Jones, Jace Billingsley, Jared Abbrederis, Ryan Spadola, Keshawn Martin, Noel Thomas, Dontez Ford, and Michael Rector all on the roster bubble in the coming months.
• Twentyman mentions that Detroit kept just four receivers on their active roster at the start of last year, which means these eight players could end up competing for as few as one roster spot.
• During offseason workouts, the three receivers on the bubble who really stood out, according to Twentyman, were Jones, Billingsley, and Abbrederis.