Sam Darnold will never be able to escape the late-season collapse he had in Minnesota. Until he wins a playoff game, it will continue to haunt him and overshadow anything he does in the regular season.
It’s why Seattle Seahawks fans have a right to be mad at owner John Schneider as they’ll constantly be reminded — especially if he gets off to a slow start with his new team — just how much of a gamble it was to sign him over working on a deal with Geno Smith.
According to a story in Pro Football Talk, Darnold was eager to talk about how things ended in Minnesota and what he learned from losing two straight games and tarnishing a 14-win season with an early playoff exit.
But he didn’t quite address what he learned, which is why it’s hard to believe he will actually improve on how things ended, especially when you look at the difference in weapons he has in Seattle and Minnesota.
Sam Darnold has to prove his worth again, even after the season he had in Minnesota
While Darnold may not be playing on a “prove it” deal anymore, he still has a lot to prove. For one, he has to prove the Seahawks made the right decision in paying him over Smith and two, he has to back up the notion he truly learned from last year’s late-season setbacks.
For what it’s worth, Smith has accomplished just as much as Darnold has, yet the Seahawks didn’t feel the need to pay him. The irony is if Darnold never wins a playoff game, they essentially made a lateral move.
Darnold’s ambiguity when it comes to how he’s going to grow with his new team is an alarm. He truly hasn’t proven much. In fact, all he’s shown is that he’s a younger Kirk Cousins: a really good regular season quarterback that can’t put it together in the playoffs.
Yes, I know this was his first time playing in the playoffs, but he’s getting paid to win meaningful games. His contract implies he’s done enough to get paid roughly $30 million a year. Yet, he’s only had one good season in his career.
He played really well in 2024 and deserved to get paid. But if they Seahawks wanted something better than Smith, nothing Darnold has done says he’s better than Smith and the Seahawks are going to find that out soon enough.
Unless Darnold truly has learned from his mistakes that cost Minnesota a deep playoff run. Going into Week 18, the Vikings were a win away from a first round bye. After the wild card weekend, they were handed their second-straight loss.
That could very well be the Seahawks’ fate too as they are in no better position with Darnold right now than they would have been with Smith.