Ridiculed and doubted for years, Seahawks QB Sam Darnold declines to gloat at Super Bowl LX
SAN JOSE, Calif. — Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold is welcome to take a victory lap this week after years of the NFL belittling and dismissing him — even as he lit it up in the playoffs and led his team to Super Bowl LX.
Anyone with less restraint would be basking in vindication. Regardless of whether he beats the Patriots on Sunday at Levi’s Stadium, Darnold won the argument. He’s too good to deny.
But when presented with the opportunity to gloat, he didn’t bother.
“It doesn’t really come down to that for me,” Darnold said. “It’s always just been about putting in the hard work every single day. And sometimes hard work and dedication and all the hours I put in in the offseason leads to this moment. That’s the mindset I’ve had my entire career.”
Nearly eight years after the Jets drafted him third overall, with back-to-back Pro Bowl selections and now a Super Bowl appearance, the league still seems somewhat unsure what to make of Darnold. A win Sunday would clarify it once and for all.
Even after a breakout performance with the Vikings last season, his market in free agency was modest. The Seahawks got him on merely a three-year deal, and his $33.5 million average pay ranks 18th at his position. That contract says they weren’t fully convinced.
Nonetheless, he proved that his superb 2024 season with the Vikings was an arrival, not an aberration. He ranked in the top 11 in passer rating (99.1), yardage (238.1 per game) and touchdown passes (25) this season. He threw 14 interceptions, but had just four in his last nine games, including none in the playoffs.
In wins over the 49ers and Rams that got the Seahawks to Super Bowl, Darnold totaled 470 yards, four touchdowns and a 122.4 passer rating.
His teammates are happy to flex on his behalf.
Wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba, the league’s Offensive Player of the Year with 1,759 yards and 10 touchdown catches, said this week, “I wouldn’t be in this position without him.” Receiver Cooper Kupp showed up to one media availability this week wearing a t-shirt that read, “I (heart) Sam Darnold.”
It doesn’t matter if others still aren’t sold. The Seahawks are all in.
“From year to year and week to week, just one of the more resilient people I’ve ever been around,” said quarterbacks coach Andrew Janocko, a former Bears assistant. “Whether he’s coming off a big win or a loss, his want to get back to work and his commitment to each step of the preparation and his enjoyment of that sets him apart.”
Many of Darnold’s low points typically would’ve been the end for a quarterback.
The Jets were done with him after three seasons in which he threw almost as many interceptions (39) as touchdown passes (45), had a 78.6 passer rating and went 13-25 as a starter.
The Panthers’ trade for him in 2021, in which they gave up second-, fourth- and sixth-round picks still is laughed about in league circles as an embarrassingly bad deal.
And after beginning his career in the Jets’ trademark dysfunction, he encountered more of the same with the bumbling Panthers.
When Darnold finally had control of his future as a free agent in 2023, he wisely went to the 49ers as a backup for respected coach Kyle Shanahan. He then furthered his football education by taking a backup job with the Vikings under another quarterback guru in Kevin O’Connell, and the door opened for him when rookie J.J. McCarthy missed the season with a knee injury.
From there, he took off. Now everyone sees the potential he always knew he had.
“The biggest thing is to believe in yourself,” Darnold said. “I’ve always had confidence, and I’ve learned. I learned a ton from the mistakes I made early in my career, and that mindset got me to this point.”