The time is now for Sam Darnold to make his case to be an NFL quarterback

The new quarterback stepped out of the locker room and into an unknown future. A wall of cameras and curious eyes tracked his passes and movements closely on the first day of Vikings training camp Wednesday.

J.J. McCarthy? Nah, but he was there too.

The story of the 2024 Vikings season revolves around journeyman Sam Darnold as much, at least initially, as the day-by-day progress of their rookie first-round draft pick at quarterback.

McCarthy’s time will come at some point. Darnold’s next step in the NFL will be shaped by what materializes between now and January.

One year, one chance, to prove to the world that he can be a successful starting quarterback if placed in a conducive situation. Essentially, this very well could be his now-or-never moment.

“I think Sam just wants to take advantage of what he feels is a pretty great opportunity,” Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell said.

Darnold begins camp as the No. 1 quarterback on the depth chart, and he likely will open the season as the starter too. Will he stay there for 17 games? That depends largely on McCarthy’s development but also on Darnold’s performance.

The best case is that Darnold plays so well that the Vikings are competitive, allowing McCarthy to learn behind the scenes in a less stressful setting without daily calls for a quarterback change.

The worst case is a repeat of Darnold’s experiences in New York and Carolina.

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The Vikings signed Darnold to a one-year, $10 million contract to serve as a bridge from Kirk Cousins to McCarthy. Vikings officials don’t use the word “bridge” or other labels to describe Darnold’s arrangement, but a one-year deal is exactly that. They signed Darnold to remove any urgency or temptation to rush McCarthy onto the field before he is ready.

O’Connell has made it abundantly clear McCarthy’s timeline will be protected by a firewall of patience. As a strategic plan, those public declarations tamp down preconceived ideas about when McCarthy will or should assume the starting job, thus removing some of the natural pressure that falls on a rookie quarterback.

“I also don’t want J.J. to feel like he’s got any kind of preset ceiling or floor to where he’s at,” O’Connell said. “That’s the excitement that I know he feels showing up to go to work every day.”

Darnold’s motivation stems from something different. He’s auditioning for the rest of the league to prove he can be a trusted starter on a winning team.

He has arrived at a unique juncture in his career, somewhat of a referendum that will explain how much blame his previous teams deserve in his inability to find footing as a starter.

There are facts about Darnold, and then there are questions about his career that can be rationalized.

He was the No. 3 overall pick in 2018. He is 27 years old. He has started 56 career games. He has thrown nearly as many interceptions (56) as touchdowns (63).

Beneath that raw data is a murky area. The infrastructure surrounding Darnold with the Jets and Panthers was hardly ideal for a young quarterback in terms of coaching and personnel. How much was his fault, and how much of it was the circumstances?

The San Francisco 49ers afforded him a quarterback’s paradise last season, but that was just a temporary gig as Brock Purdy’s backup, not a long-term option as starter.

The Vikings needed a veteran bridge quarterback after parting with Cousins. Darnold needed an attractive landing spot for a shot at redemption. He can only hope to produce some facsimile of what Baker Mayfield parlayed in Tampa Bay last season.

Darnold is walking into an advantageous situation. He has the NFL’s best receiver in Justin Jefferson, a strong supporting cast of skill players that includes T.J. Hockenson (when healthy), Jordan Addison and new lead running back Aaron Jones, and a pair of premier offensive tackles in Christian Darrisaw and Brian O’Neill.

His head coach played quarterback in the NFL and has devoted his professional life to training that position and constructing a scheme that puts great faith and trust in the QB.

This time, Darnold is not being asked to win a horse race riding a donkey.

McCarthy represents the future. Darnold doesn’t have the luxury of time to prove himself.