Well it’s official, the Seattle Seahawks have officially “won” the Sam Darnold sweepstakes and signed him to a three-year $100.5 million contract. This comes after Seattle recently traded their other quarterback, Geno Smith, to the Las Vegas Raiders.
This move by Seattle seems like a head scratcher to some. With Smith being traded, along with the trade of DK Metcalf to the Pittsburgh Steelers and the release of Tyler Lockett, it seemed like Seattle was getting ready for a rebuild.
However, unbeknownst to all of us the Seahawks were really just opening up cap space in order to acquire Darnold. It makes sense for Seattle to move on from Smith; he’s 34 years old, made only playoff appearances and he could be starting to regress.
However, it seems like it was a lateral move by Seattle to trade away Smith and then acquire Darnold through free agency with a lot of money.
Darnold did come off one of his best career seasons so far with the Minnesota Vikings. Darnold led the Vikings all the way to the playoffs and was even named to his first pro bowl appearance as well.
Everyone knew that Darnold was going to get a lot of money in the 2025 NFL offseason, but it was always a question of which team would take the bait. Darnold had a great 2024 season, but it was his only good season in seven years in the NFL.
Darnold fell really hard towards the end of the 2024 season. In the final regular season game of the year against the Detroit Lions, Darnold and the Vikings had an abysmal performance and the team lost in embarrassing fashion against Detroit.
Then the very next week in the wild card round of the playoffs, the Vikings were taking on the Los Angeles Rams at a neutral site due to the California Palisades fires.
Just like against the Lions, Darnold and the Vikings played so poorly that it actually hurt Darnold’s chances in free agency. He still got $100 million, but he could’ve gotten so much more if he had finished the season stronger.
It can be argued that the reason behind Darnold’s success in Minnesota is because he was finally in a system that allowed him to grow as a quarterback. Prior to the Vikings, Darnold was developed by the New York Jets and Carolina Panthers, a terrible situation for a young QB.
Both teams were going through rebuilds at the time and were in terrible situations for a young quarterback. Now with Minnesota, Darnold was in the best situation with the Vikings and it clearly showed.
Darnold won’t retain the benefit of having a star wide receiver in Justin Jefferson and with two big time receivers leaving Seattle, the QB is joining Seattle at a very interesting time.
Darnold could very well continue on with the success he had with the Vikings, but in recent history players who get big contracts after one great season are usually labeled as one-year wonders.
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