We had Sam Darnold

[Tbe]

2 hours ago, CRA said:

Sam Darnold is still very much Sam Darnold.  That's been evident all season long. 

The Seahawks simply are a better team than the Jets and Panthers were. 

He’s a great example of building a good team around a limited QB.

Something we can definitely do.

[ncsfinest21]

proves alot of what ive told people. The OC should take alot more blame than players. Coaching and system play a big part. Cant fit a square peg through a circle hole. Our OC have been incompetent for a while.

[LinvilleGorge]

8 minutes ago, Tbe said:

He’s a great example of building a good team around a limited QB.

Something we can definitely do.

The limitations aren't the same. Sam Darnold can absolutely make every throw in the book. You just have to keep him on schedule and have to beat it into his head that if it's not there just throw it away and live to play another down. Crucial back breaking turnovers has always been his Achilles' heel. Bryce's Achilles' heel is that he simply physically cannot make a lot of plays that most other NFL QBs can. That's an entirely different limitation to try to manage.

[Khyber53]

16 hours ago, Captroop said:

Never should have let him go. But then again neither should the Vikings. 

I'll never understand the amount of hate and doubt that guy has gotten in his career. Now he's going to a Super Bowl. 

I said back in the day on this board we were making a mistake. That one game against the Vikings when we were getting killed and Sam just came out, put the team on his shoulders and then just started playing way above his pay grade and going off script and running for first downs showed there was more to him than anyone around here believed. We lost the game and for a lot of folks, that was the coda before he should have been tossed in the trash.

I said back then he's see a Super Bowl before we did. We were a trash team with trash coaching and he was the butt of it all. Didn't deserve what we gave him, didn't deserve what the Jets did to him. Spent some time rehabbing with great coaching and organization in San Fran, then went to Minnesota and saved their season, then got spun out to preserve their top draft pick guy and found a home in Seattle where they knew how to use him.

Good for Sam, the guy deserves it for all the crap he's been through and for not giving up. And maybe he makes a note that our hot takes version of sports is bullshit sometimes. 

[LinvilleGorge]

Yeah, I didn't want to trade for Darnold and wasn't sad to see him go but at the same time, he won me over as a person during his time here. Seems like a legit good dude. Not sad to see him playing well and doing well.

 

[Davidson Deac II]

23 minutes ago, Tbe said:

He’s a great example of building a good team around a limited QB.

Something we can definitely do.

If Darnold is limited, then the vast majority of NFL quarterbacks are limited.  

I personally don't think he is that limited.  Strong arm, decent mobility and accuracy.  His problem was that he would play great but then make one or two boneheaded mistakes that would cost the team the game.  

He seems to have mostly eliminated that issue, but it took a while.  

Edited January 26 by Davidson Deac II

[Davidson Deac II]

If we had kept Darnold and signed him to a longer contract, half the fanbase would have howled.  And would likely not accept him until he won a Superbowl or two.  

[strato]

4 minutes ago, Davidson Deac II said:

If we had kept Darnold and signed him to a longer contract, half the fanbase would have howled.  And would likely not accept him until he won a Superbowl or two.  

You are right. And it doesn’t speak well of them. 

 

[outlaw4]

Nah, nah, don't give me this revisionist bull. There were those that saw Darnold as a bridge QB back in 22, but that was more in the minority. People here generally wanted him gone. 

[jtm]

He wasn't good here and neither was Mayfield.  It is what it is but it does make me question this organization's ability to develop a QB. 

[shaqattaq]

16 hours ago, KillerKat said:

and couldve drafted Maye had we not given up everything

Or at least Nix, we may not have finished dead last with Sam on the roster. Trading the whole enchilada for Bryce the season before a historically good QB draft was the worse idea since the Vikes went all in for Herschel Walker.

[Dingo_ate_Babies]

Darnold was not going to succeed here. He needed time to develop (which he got at SF) and he needed an elite supporting cast (which he got after he left here).

[Jay Roosevelt]

On 1/25/2026 at 10:02 PM, NCBlu said:

Sam + Wilks would be a lot farther along in the rebuild. They wanted to run ball play D.

Our new offensive HC wants to run the ball play D... huh

Steve Wilks would have lasted about as long as Frank Reich did. He's had two DC jobs since leaving here and was fired from both; let's not pretend he's the second coming of Vince Lombardi. Would he have been better than Frank Reich? Of course, but that's not saying much.

Darnold was a free agent after 2022 and was highly unlikely to choose to re-sign here under Wilks or anyone else. And even if he had, he would never have developed into what he is now.

The difference for Sam Darnold was the year he spent as a backup on San Francisco under Kyle Shanahan and then going to Minnesota under another offensive guru in Kevin O'Connell. Had he re-signed here instead he would be a backup QB on some random team right now instead of preparing for the Super Bowl.

Do you think it's a coincidence that we had both Darnold and Baker Mayfield and neither produced here, but both became franchise type QBs after leaving for better situations elsewhere?

[X-Clown]

On 1/26/2026 at 3:06 PM, outlaw4 said:

Nah, nah, don't give me this revisionist bull. There were those that saw Darnold as a bridge QB back in 22, but that was more in the minority. People here generally wanted him gone. 

Even his most ardent supporters on here said that they’d take him if he was willing to stay as a backup or possibly in a bridge role. Most of the banter around this board was about how dumb Fitterer/Rhule were for giving up multiple picks for him and then giving him a 5th year option without even seeing him play a down for us.

Edited January 27 by X-Clown