The Minnesota Vikings quarterback acknowledged things haven’t always gone his way in the early days of his career, but believes there were valuable lessons there.

He told Gridiron magazine: “It’s always important to understand where you’ve come from and the experience you’ve had to get to this point.

“For me, I learned a ton when I was a young player in the NFL.

“Yes, things didn’t necessarily go my way all the time, but those are things I’ve been able to learn from.

“It didn’t feel like it at the time but, at the end of the day, those things make you better as a player.”

The 27-year-old sportsman is always looking to learn from his experiences.

He said: “You always learn from experiences, whether you’re a quarterback in the NFL or you’re working an everyday normal job.

“You always continue to learn as your career moves forward.

“I’m going to continue to take it one day at a time, one game at a time, and learn as I go.”

Sam admitted there is “pressure” as a quarterback but knows he can ultimately only directly influence his own performance.

He said: “As a young quarterback, I almost felt this pressure like, ‘Hey, I’ve got to lead these 52 other guys to go and get the win’.

“But as a quarterback, you’ve just got to make good decisions, put the ball in the right position, get it in play and let your playmakers go and run with it.

“Everything will take care of itself after that.”