It would have been understandable if Sam Darnold had gotten off to a slow start with the Seattle Seahawks.
What could Seahawks get back in a Riq Woolen trade?
After all, the 28-year-old quarterback was tasked with breaking in a new-look offense that featured several new starters, a new coordinator and a new scheme.
But so far, there haven’t been any major growing pains for Seattle’s new QB1.
Darnold has been sharp and efficient through his first four games, completing 70% of his passes for 905 yards, five touchdowns and two interceptions.
He’s created explosive plays downfield, ranking second in the NFL with 9.1 yards per pass attempt. He’s made a handful of big throws in crunch time, including a 22-yarder to Jaxon Smith-Njigba that set up Seattle’s game-winning field goal against the Arizona Cardinals last Thursday night.
And he’s done it all while limiting mistakes, with Pro Football Focus tagging him for only one turnover-worthy so far.
“He’s just hit the ground running and looked so confident and so comfortable back there,” NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah said Tuesday during his weekly appearance on Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk.
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‘A nice rhythm and flow’
In particular, Jeremiah pointed to Darnold playing with a sense of “calmness” and “quietness” – to the point where he’d use Darnold’s current tape as an example for younger NFL quarterbacks to study.
“I would show him how Sam’s playing the position and show him how quiet Sam is from the waist down – how there’s a calmness and a quietness to how he’s playing that’s not frenetic at all,” Jeremiah said. “… I’m using Sam as an example for a young quarterback of where you’d like to get to.
“And I don’t know if people would have believed that if I would have told you that three or four years ago, with where Sam’s career (was at). … But he is playing with a tremendous amount of poise and confidence.”
Jeremiah then used some interesting analogies to further his point.
“I almost think of him (Darnold) like how you might listen to podcasts,” Jeremiah said. “When Sam’s been in trouble in the past, … he’s listening to it at 1.6 speed. Like, slow that thing down a little bit, man. Just slow it down and then you’ll get yourself into a nice rhythm and flow.
“It’s hard to be accurate when everything is moving too quickly and too fast. It’d be like a golf swing where you’re too quick. You’ve gotta kind of have a nice tempo and flow to it. And that’s how Sam’s playing.”
Listen to the full conversation with NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah at this link or in the audio player near the bottom of this story. Tune in to Brock and Salk weekdays from 6 to 10 a.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app.
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