Fans of the Seattle Seahawks will get treated to a lot of crowing from Sam Darnold haters this week, who will claim that all of their old priors about Darnold were confirmed by his awful performance against the LA Rams on Sunday.
Nevermind the fact that Darnold came into that game playing at an MVP level and this was the only truly bad start he's had all season.
In any case, smart folks know that Darnold won't be turning back into a pumpkin just because of one bad game. Here's what Seahawks legend Richard Sherman said about it on his most recent podcast.
Richard Sherman on Sam Darnold
Sam Darnold will RECOVER from this game | Vikings Fans…. Stop.. just.. STOP. 📉#SamDarnold #Seahawks pic.twitter.com/67CQeAt0pL
— Richard Sherman Podcast (@RShermanPodcast) November 20, 2025
Sherman is 100% right about the Minnesota Vikings, who made one of the biggest QB blunders in modern NFL history by letting Darnold walk last offseason. There is no guarantee that JJ McCarthy is going to work out at this level - and the early results have been pretty sobering regarding his ability.
Their loss is the Seahawks' gain, and they'll get to see a close-up look in two weeks when the Vikings come to visit in Week 13.
While this game may have bumped him out of the NFL MVP conversation, Darnold is still at worst a top-10 starter in this league right now. What he was early in his career with the Jets is irrelevant. This current version of Darnold is a great competitor who will have an occasional bad game, which is no different from any other high-level starter.
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