By Bob Condotta Seattle Times
By March, when he met the Seattle media for the first time as the Seahawks’ new quarterback, Sam Darnold was used to holding introductory news conferences.
There was the one he held on April 27, 2018, after he was the third overall pick in the NFL draft by the New York Jets.
There was the one he held April 12, 2021 after he was unceremoniously traded to the Carolina Panthers following three seasons and a 13-25 record as a starter for the notoriously underachieving Jets.
The one he held on March 16, 2023 when he signed as a free agent with the San Francisco 49ers after the Panthers decided not to bring him back, insurance in case Brock Purdy couldn’t make it back because of injury.
Another was held on March 15, 2024 with the Vikings when he was signed shortly after Kirk Cousins departed for Atlanta, Darnold hoping for a chance to start, which he got after rookie J.J. McCarthy was felled with a knee injury.
And finally last March 13, after he became a free agent when the Vikings decided to commit to McCarthy and Darnold signed with the Seahawks four days later.
“My entire journey has been about growing as a person and as a player,” Darnold said that day, flanked by coach Mike Macdonald and offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak. “And I’m just so, so thankful that it’s led me to this point here in Seattle.”
Darnold’s hope was that the merry-go-round had finally ended, even if he signed a three-year contract that the Seahawks could get out of after one year if they want, and is best viewed as a two-year deal given its structure.
Six games in, the Seahawks-Darnold marriage appears on its way to being one in which each side will be happy to be wedded for ever after.
As the Seahawks have jumped out to a 4-2 record, Darnold is proving his breakout season last year in Minnesota was not an outlier.
Among Darnold’s slew of shining stats:
• He is third in the NFL in passing yards with 1,541 despite the Seahawks throwing a lower percentage of passes than any team in the league (just 50.29%).
• He leads the NFL in yards per completion at 13.5, yards per attempt at 9.6 and net yards gained per pass attempt — which accounts for sacks — at 8.92.
• He has the third-best passer rating at 116.0, seventh-best completion percentage (70.8%), fourth-best touchdown percentage (6.8%) and the fourth-lowest sack percentage at 4.17%, indicative of his ability to recognize and/or escape trouble.
• He also has 15 games with two-plus touchdown passes and a 100 or better passer rating since the beginning of the 2024 season, most in the NFL, as well as the most games with a passer rating of 100 or better (17), and is tied with Patrick Mahomes for the most game-winning drives in the fourth quarter or overtime (seven).
“Sam’s fantastic,” tight end AJ Barner said last week. “He’s doing a heck of a job. Just how consistent he is, how hard he plays, how he leads — we have a very special quarterback here, and I think people are starting to find that out. We’re going to continue to ride with him.”
The question that grows in intensity with each week is whether Darnold always had this in him or has something changed over the last two seasons?
Or is it, as the 28-year-old Darnold tends to say, simply a combination of everything learned along the way.
“I think for me, I think the biggest thing was just consistency,” he said earlier this year. “Playing consistent football.”
What some cite as one of Darnold’s biggest growth areas the past few years is consistently recognizing when there are opportunities for big plays and execute them.
After never averaging better than 6.9 yards per attempt in his first four NFL seasons, Darnold has averaged 8.2, 7.9 and now 9.6 in his last three years as a starter (throwing out the 2023 season when he started only one game).
Against the Jaguars on Sunday, Darnold completed four passes of 29 yards or longer — including a 61-yarder touchdown to Jaxon Smith-Njigba that put the Seahawks ahead for good in the second quarter and a 61-yarder to tight end AJ Barner in the fourth quarter that sewed up the win.
Each are the longest play of the season for the Seahawks.
On the TD to Smith-Njigba, Darnold noticed that the Jaguars were in quarters coverage (four defensive backs each responsible for a deep zone) and had their safeties moving up to defend the run, and that Smith-Njigba was being guarded by Jags cornerback Greg Newsome II, who had been acquired in a trade during the week and was on the field for the first time.
“We got a certain look where I’m kind of alerting the post (receiver Smith-Njigba) on that,” Darnold said.
The pass to Barner came on a first down with 2:53 when the Jaguars were anticipating a run and had just three defensive backs deep in a three-deep zone.
Barner simply ran past the middle safety and into the open, something Darnold and Barner realized could unfold as the play neared.
Barner stepped one foot back at the snap, just enough to get the safety leaning forward and space for Barner to run past him.
“That’s a testament to all the hard work throughout the week and AJ understanding the kind of look we were getting for that and he did a great job of selling it,” Darnold said.
Darnold rolled and had time to stop and complete the pass. With Barner wide open, the pass might have looked like an easy one to hit.
But to Macdonald, the real work was already done.
“It speaks to Sam’s poise, his confidence right now, and the preparation that he is doing,” Macdonald said. “You don’t just show up on Sunday and these plays come to life. You’ve got to make them happen. We’ve got to be able to move and shake at the line of scrimmage. We’ve got to be able to operate at a high level and Sam’s doing that.”
That was the hope — if not yet the expectation — on that March day Darnold first became a Seahawk.
“I think we have an opportunity to do something very, very special here,” Darnold said then. “But it’s going to take a lot of hard work, and we know that. I know that going in. And yeah, just very excited to take this one day at a time and that’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to put my head down and go to work.”
At this rate he may be calling 12 Seahawks Way his place of employment for years to come.