Sam Darnold was looking forward to a chance to negotiate a new deal that would keep him with the Minnesota Vikings. The Seattle Seahawks entered the offseason intent on keeping Geno Smith as their starting quarterback.
When the dust settled, Darnold ended up signing a reported three-year, $100.5 million deal to be the Seahawks’ next signal-caller.
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Darnold was introduced as the Seattle’s next quarterback last Thursday, just six days after it struck a deal to send Smith to the Las Vegas Raiders.
During a conversation with Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk on Friday, Darnold explained how the Smith trade put the Seahawks on his radar and why Seattle was an attractive fit in free agency.
Seahawks ‘sky-rocketed to the top of my list’
A day prior to the interview with Darnold, NFL Network insider Tom Pelissero told Brock and Salk that the Vikings did pursue keeping Darnold before he ended up in Seattle.
“I think it was telling (that) even with a rookie first-round pick in J.J. McCarthy, they still made Sam Darnold an offer,” Pelissero said. “It was a one-year offer. It was not at the numbers that the Seahawks were offering on a multi-year deal, but they did try to retain Sam Darnold.”
This Sam Darnold throw is the definition of a DIME 🤯 pic.twitter.com/4BegUyBJ60
— NFL (@NFL) December 17, 2024
However, that wasn’t the type of deal that was going to keep Darnold with the Vikings.
“Right after the season I was eager to potentially get something done with Minnesota,” Darnold said. “Obviously, having the year that we had (Minnesota went 14-3 and reached the playoffs), I fell in love with that place and my teammates and my coaches, as you guys can understand. But when it became clear that it wasn’t necessarily the multi-year deal that I was seeking, it became clear that I needed to start looking elsewhere.”
Then the Smith trade happened.
“After the Geno trade and I found out about that, I was just very interested in Seattle, and they kind of sky-rocketed to the top of my list,” said Darnold, noting “a couple other teams” were pursuing him. “… It’s just a very, very exciting time for me, and I’m just very, very eager to get in the building and get to know everybody.”
What stood out about Seahawks
Darnold did his research on the Seahawks before signing. He said he spoke with players and coaches who had previous ties to the franchise to get a feeling for how it operates.
“Just everyone speaks so highly of the organization from top to bottom,” Darnold said.
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While the organization may have received positive reviews, Brock and Salk co-host Mike Salk pointed out that there have been some happenings that could be seen as unattractive for a free agent quarterback, namely the recent departures of wide receivers DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett, and Seattle’s struggling offensive line.
Salk wondered how Darnold sees that from a quarterback’s perspective.
“I think there’s still some really, really good young talent that we have, especially with (Jaxon Smith-Njigba) and some of the other guys at the skill positions,” said Darnold, who spoke several hours before news broke that the Seahawks signed standout receiver Cooper Kupp.
“We got a couple really good running backs as well that can do some fun stuff, whether it’s obviously running the football, but out of the backfield as well catching the football. So that excites me as well.”
And Darnold pointed to his connection with new Seahawks offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak, who was the passing game coordinator with the San Francisco 49ers when Darnold was their backup quarterback in 2023.
“He’s incredible. He’s obviously been around the game forever with his dad (Gary Kubiak) coaching in the league as long as he did,” Darnold said. “… There’s so much that I love about this offense, but I think one of the main things that I love is that I’ve had experience in it, and that was also a huge factor in me deciding to come here.”
Hear the full conversation at this link or in the audio player near the top of this story. Tune in to Brock and Salk weekdays from 6-10 a.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app.
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