Seattle Seahawks hold first day of minicamp
RENTON, Wash. - Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Cooper Kupp is highly skeptical of his new quarterback in Sam Darnold.
Well, away from the football field at least.
"I don't know. He kind of has a childish taste, palate," Kupp joked on Tuesday following the first practice of the team's mandatory mini-camp. "We went out to dinner, and I don't know. I don't trust him yet with the food recommendations and things like that. Quarterbacks, I would have expected a little bit differently, but everyone has their own thing."
Asked to elaborate on the jab, Kupp explained. "He said he wanted to go to dinner. I was, like, ‘Perfect, what sounds good?’ I mean, just the recommendations, kind of the way he came off was he wanted to go get some fries and chicken strips. Look, I have a six-year-old. I can bring you his food. I can bring that, and I'll go eat something good.
"It ended up being fine. He ventured out and was, like, OK, he was at least willing to try some stuff. I may have misread him. We'll see. Time will tell."
The impression of Darnold on the field has been far more favorable.
"We're going to get there (as an offense) and because of the urgency of guys like Sam who see when it's not right and can say, 'Hey, this is how it has to be to make this thing go against this look and how we're going to be able to attack this defense, this is where I need guys to be.' Now, I love that," Kupp said. "I love when your quarterback is taking that urgency into things and understanding and mastery of these concepts. So it's real fun to play with someone like that and excited for the guys to come alongside him and learn and make those things come to life."
The fortunes of the 2025 Seahawks will rely heavily on the production of Darnold under center this season. He takes over the job from Geno Smith, who was traded to the Las Vegas Raiders in March after three seasons as the Seahawks' quarterback.
"Sam is doing a great job," head coach Mike Macdonald said. "Sam is a great feel for the offense right now in terms of growing every day. So you can feel the growth. You can feel the improvement, the confidence that we're doing on that side of the ball and that we're growing. It's exciting to work with. He's a heck of a competitor."
Kupp is learning a new offense for the first time since college in his move to Seattle from the Los Angeles Rams. However, Darnold has played in this system before under offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak when they were together with the San Francisco 49ers in 2023.
"He's kind of been in this offense a little bit, so he's got a little bit of a leg-up on a lot of the guys that are learning for the first time," Kupp said. "You see there's an understanding he knows what it takes to make this offense go. It's the details. It's all that stuff, precision, execution."
Even though it's June, some of that competitiveness has shown up at times for Darnold. He's not the most vocal player on the field, but he's willing to speak up when it's needed.
"The thing you love about Sam is he is just a dude, man," Macdonald said. "He's like one of the guys. There's a sense that he's one of the guys, so he's right there with them in all the things, but that's him. There is some s--- to him. Don't mess with him. He's got that edge to him, that competitiveness, and the guys respect that. But he's him. He's not trying to be anybody else, and you have to respect that about him."
For Darnold, that's just trying to be his authentic self.
"I think for me, I've always just kind of been myself, whatever that is," Darnold said. "I think that might be a better question for one of my teammates. I just really like to do my job every day. I'm not going to be super vocal unless I have to be on the field, which of course, the quarterback — you're leading the offense at the end of the day, and sometimes you need to be vocal. If it calls for that, I will be. But I'm definitely not a guy to force myself into talking much."
So what does that sound like on the field?
"It's like dad jokes. It's kind of those type of jabs," safety Julian Love said. "But you can tell, OK, he has some fire to him. He's used to being around the guys, around the boys. He's not a square type of guy. He's cool with dishing it back a bit."
The Source: Information in this story came from FOX 13 Seattle reporting.
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