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Bootleg Football on Sam Darnold

PodcastThe Reigning Champion is...Underrated?
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Darnold had a passer rating of 117.5 against man coverage. His explosive pass rate was 23.8%, which is absurd. His yards per attempt was nine and a half. His EPA per play was a whopping 0.36.
Mentioned at 17:42 – 18:15

STACKED’s take

Positive signalProjection

Darnold posted elite man-coverage stats early (117.5 rating, 0.36 EPA/play) via Seattle's JSN-focused scheme.

Darnold's early-season performance against man coverage was elite: 117.5 passer rating, 23.8% explosive pass rate, 9.5 yards per attempt, and 0.36 EPA per play in weeks 1-10. This was driven by Seattle's offensive scheme designed to get JSN one-on-one through run-heavy looks that forced defenses into cover three, then attacking with under-center non-play-action drop backs to punish those coverages and create man-coverage opportunities where Darnold excelled.

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