It’s a new era in Seattle.
Out with Geno Smith, in with Sam Darnold.
Seattle traded its incumbent starting quarterback, Smith, to the Las Vegas Raiders and were in the hunt for a QB1.
Enter Darnold.
After a career-saving year with the Minnesota Vikings, the former New York Jet cashed in with the Seahawks to the tune of a three-year, $100.5 million deal.
However, as is always the case with these contracts, they are rarely what they seem.
If things go bad in year one of the Darnold era, the Seahawks can move off the contract after that.
According to Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio, year one of the agreement for the 2025 season is fully guaranteed at $37.5 million.
The 2026 compensation is $27.5 million, $17.5 million of which is guaranteed for injury and becomes fully ensured in the week after Super Bowl LX.
If Darnold sees the third year of the contract, he would make $35.5 million, none of which is guaranteed.
This all means the deal is essentially a one-year trial run with $37.5 million on the table..
It is a smart and savvy move from the Seattle front office, as Darnold hasn’t proven to be a consistent quarterback in the league.
He will be looking to prove that his 2024 season wasn’t an outlier and stands to profit if he manages.
But if it was, Seattle can move off of him quickly.
However, head coach Mike Macdonald seems to have the utmost confidence in his 27-year-old quarterback.
“Sam’s best days are ahead of him,” Macdonald said during Darnold’s introductory news conference.
For Darnold, he thanked a certain divisional rival at quarterback for helping evolve his game as a passer.
He was Brock Purdy‘s backup in 2023, and gave credit to the San Francisco QB for elevating his game.
“I really thank Brock, you know, a ton,” Darnold said.
“Brock Purdy, for just his style of play and how he kind of describes his style of like, ‘We’ve got a ton of great playmakers on offense, my job is just to play point guard and get the ball in their hands and let em go do great things with the rock.’
“And when I started to change my thought process as a quarterback to kinda just getting the ball in my guys’ hands, then that really it’s where it kind-of unlocked for me.”
Darnold and Purdy will now be facing each other twice a year.
Whether that’s for just one season with Darnold in Seattle remains to be seen.
