The past few seasons of the National Football League (NFL) have been wildly unpredictable, as the only sure thing has been unprecedented inconsistency. One of the most curious trends through the chaos has been the redemption arcs experienced by some traditionally disgraced quarterbacks.
Three years ago, if someone had said that Baker Mayfield, Sam Darnold and Daniel Jones would be three leaders in the MVP race, they may have received nothing more than delirious laughs. These three quarterbacks, each in successive years, have risen from highly-drafted failures to some of the best in the business.
Each one of these players was drafted in the first round of the NFL Draft, with Mayfield going to the Cleveland Browns, Darnold to the New York Jets and Jones to the New York Giants. They were each instant failures on their teams and hopped around the league before finding what should be long-term homes.
Mayfield has conducted the high-powered Tampa Bay Buccaneers offense for three seasons now, Darnold leads the Seattle Seahawks after a very successful 14-3 year with the Minnesota Vikings in 2024 and Jones, along with elite running back Jonathan Taylor, had the Indianapolis Colts looking like a legitimate Super Bowl threat, before getting injured. As of the end of week 12, these three teams are in the top half of points scored per game in the NFL (a reliable measure of offensive proficiency), with the Colts in sixth, the Seahawks in fifth and the Buccaneers in sixteenth.
Now, people can sit around all day and admire how these athletes picked themselves up by their bootstraps and turned their careers around in just a matter of a few years, but there is something far greater than just pure talent (which is very abundant for them) that has helped them reach this point: unheard-of levels of mental toughness.
People mocked and jeered them. Memes spread online. They faced endless shame. Jones found himself as low as being on a practice squad. They got knocked to the ground. However, instead of rolling over and giving in, they stood back up, sucked it up and dared society to take another shot.
Though they may seem like distant stars with brilliant but unattainable and unrelatable stories, there are important lessons that people can glean from them. Life often throws curveballs and presents people with challenges that may seem insurmountable and impossible to overcome. Undeniably, the most important thing to remember in these situations is to never surrender.
Holding one’s head high to endure through struggles is not just a matter of preserving one’s pride. The most practical and direct effect of persevering is that one can accomplish what they’ve set out to do. No great accomplishment has ever been achieved by giving up when the going gets tough. The great inventor Thomas Edison even faced thousands of setbacks before inventing the first effective light bulb.
Additionally, maintaining positivity in the face of doubt and persevering toward goals can lead to less anxiety. Every time people choose grit over folding to the pressure, they earn a small win for their mental health. And not unlike for professional quarterbacks, continuous small wins pile up heavily over time.
Life is full of challenges that will knock everybody down. It’s time for people to accept the inevitable and work to change what comes next instead of dwelling on defeat.
