Sam Darnold's historic debut puts him in HOF company

Sam Darnold's first snap as QB of the New York Jets was a historic one. The rookie became the youngest (21 years and 97 days old) Week 1 starting QB since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger. On that same snap, Darnold dropped back for his first pass and threw a pick-six.

The dubious play ironically put Darnold in some good company. Brett Favre, Johnny Unitas, and Jameis Winston threw pick-sixes on their first pass attempts too.

Unitas and Favre went on to have Hall of Fame careers. In 2105, Winston bounced back to have a Pro Bowl season where he also took home Rookie of the Year honors.

Here's a look at Favre's pick-six in a Falcons vs. Redskins game from 1991:

Twenty-four years later, Winston threw this pick-six in his debut against the Titans:

As fans tend to do, there were some overreactions to the beginning of Donald's debut:

Those tweets did not age well as Darnold quickly bounced and threw this this 41-yard TD pass to put the Jets up 17-7.

Darnold completed 16 of 21 passes for 198 yards and two TDs in the Jets' 48-17 victory. According to ESPN Stats & Info, he also became the first QB since Tom Brady to win his first start by 31+ points.

See, don't overreact, it's only Week 1 (and the beginning of what will hopefully be a long illustrious career for Darnold). So, obviously Darnold is going to have a Pro Bowl rookie season and is on track to be in Canton around 2040, right?