Sam Darnold is back: For the second straight year, the Seahawks QB looks like the right bet for a new team

When the Seattle Seahawks committed $100.5 million to Sam Darnold this spring, plenty of well-minded folks scratched their heads. Didn't the Seahawks just get done watching Darnold fizzle out with the Minnesota Vikings? Didn't they watch the Vikings, who'd just won 14 games, say thanks but no thanks to their own reclamation project? And most puzzling of all, wasn't Darnold essentially just a discounted version of previous starter Geno Smith, who'd just been traded to the Las Vegas Raiders?

Well, it's early in the 2025 NFL season. There is still an abundance of time for promising stories to go south. But four games in, or roughly a quarter of the way into the regular season calendar, the Seahawks are 3-1, well positioned to usurp the San Francisco 49ers as NFC West favorites. And Darnold is a big reason why.

Thursday night was but the latest evidence: On the road on a short week against the rival Arizona Cardinals, who came into Week 4 giving up just 17 points per game thanks to Jonathan Gannon's restocked defensive front, Darnold was the calmest player on the State Farm Stadium grass. He was practically perfect through the air, hitting almost 70% of his passes, including a beautifully timed last-minute back-shoulder lob to Jaxon Smith-Njibga to set up a walk-off Jason Myers field goal.

On the year, Darnold is averaging 9.1 yards per throw, third-best in the NFL and behind only former MVP Lamar Jackson and Indianapolis Colts breakout Daniel Jones. He also ranks in the top 10 in basically every other major passing category: yards, touchdowns, completion rate, quarterback rating. It's no wonder coach Mike Macdonald laughed off offseason questions about Darnold's hold on the starting job, then declared after Thursday's third straight win that the journeyman is "playing out of his mind right now."

Does this guarantee Seattle is destined for football glory with Darnold at the helm? Of course not. Anyone who watched Darnold's 2024 finish knows that all too well. One or two games doesn't make or break a season, but in the case of last year's Vikings, Darnold's deflating stumble to the finish line basically did mar the rest of his purple rejuvenation, clearing the runway for a J.J. McCarthy takeover in Minnesota. No one blamed the Vikings for turning the page, just as no one threw a parade in Seattle for the Seahawks claiming the damaged goods as their own potential treasure.

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Yet here we are, 2025 unfolding, and can we say definitively that, deep down, the Vikings wouldn't like to have Sam slinging the rock for them at this moment? Carson Wentz brought seasoned stability to the lineup in his first emergency start for the injured and unsteady McCarthy in Week 3, and he may well become coach Kevin O'Connell's next redemption story for the Vikings. As wise as it may have been for Minnesota to move on from Darnold as a high-upside placeholder, we should also be careful not to understate what Darnold accomplished in his 16 other starts for Minnesota. His 35 touchdowns were legit. He was resilient. He was authoritative. He was confident. Just not in the two games that mattered most.

That issue could present itself in Seattle down the road. Only time will tell. What we can say, however, is that in almost literally 90% of his starts since the opening of 2024, when he finally got another shot to be "the guy," Darnold has clearly been an upper-level quarterback. He's not only reminded everyone of the charged-up arm that warranted his entry as a No. 3 overall draft pick by the New York Jets years ago. He's refined his situational precision and, at least in spurts, his situational composure, as shown Thursday.

Sam Darnold's NFL ranks since start of 2024

Among active starting QBs. * = Wins includes playoffs.

And we almost certainly don't give him enough credit for doing this, first in Minnesota and now in Seattle, while learning four different offensive systems in four years. Did his Vikings supporting cast and coaching staff aid his rejuvenation? Sure. But plenty of us were plenty skeptical Darnold could translate even a semblance of his best 2024 moments to a Seahawks club that also got some magical moments from Geno Smith. It may be too early to fully judge that swap, but how many Seahawks fans would willingly take Smith back right now, in place of Darnold? The former may be stuck behind another iffy front in Las Vegas, but as he approaches age 35, he's now up to 17 interceptions in his last 20 games.

At the end of the day, the Seahawks are set to make out OK either way. Darnold's lucrative deal is structured in a way that Seattle can actually exit the commitment sooner rather than later, if necessary. But sitting at 3-1 after four games, with a division title not so unfeasible, and the new guy under center leading the charge in every way? That's not a bad start whatsoever.

More than that, perhaps, it's another testament to Darnold's hard-fought journey from first-round castoff to well-oiled gunslinger. He's still got hurdles to clear to confirm the "franchise quarterback" label. Many of them can't be cleared for months. For a guy who, like the similarly redeemed Baker Mayfield, was kicked to the curb by both his original team and another rebuilding program in the Carolina Panthers, he's managed to remain in the conversation among formidable talents at the game's most important position. That has to count for something.