Replacing quarterback Geno Smith with Sam Darnold is going to be a bit tricky. The Seattle Seahawks are hoping that Darnold, who is seven years younger than Smith and will likely be at least $10 million a season less expensive, can be even more efficient than Smith has been. It is a big risk.
While there are many who thought Seattle's quarterback situation could have been better over the last three seasons. Smith has been QB1, he has done enough things to show he was deserving of starting. He led the NFC in touchdown passes in 2022, the league in completion percentage the same year, the NFL in game-winning drives and fourth quarter comebacks in 2023, and made two Pro Bowls.
Darnold has only had one good season in the league, and that came last year when he played for a talented Minnesota Vikings team. Having a receiver such as Justin Jefferson and playing indoors at home games might make Darnold's numbers look better than he truly was. He also was fairly terrible in the final two games of the year.
One NFL expert calls Seattle Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold a "tavern ham"
But Darnold is also joining an offensive scheme in Seattle that he is familiar with. New offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak and the quarterback worked together with the San Francisco 49ers in 2023. If Darnold, who will be going to his fifth team in eight seasons, is going to be immediately impactful, at least feeling comfortable in the system should help.
But is Darnold going to be better for the Seahawks in 2025 than Geno Smith would have been? One NFL expert certainly does not believe so. NFL.com's Kevin Patra, who must have been quite hungry when he wrote his analysis of the best and riskiest moves of the NFL offseason so far, said Smith was a better kind of food than Darnold.
Patra wrote, "Here is a room-temperature-milk read of the situation: I understand it, but I don't have to love it...Even with the favorable contract and the projected fit in Kubiak's offense, I still don't like Darnold in Seattle as the centerpiece of a transition. Replacing Smith with Darnold is like substituting prosciutto with tavern ham."
While literally calling football players a piece of meat is somewhat questionable, being so harsh about Darnold is as well. Maybe he will not be as explosive as Smith was, but Darnold might also take better care of the ball and run Kubiak's offense more efficiently than Smith. Most times, a player's ability doesn't determine how a season goes but how a player fits into a certain system.
Darnold was a great fit in Minnesota, and the scheme that Kubiak uses works a lot the same way. Maybe the quarterback won't have Jefferson, but he will have Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Cooper Kupp. There is enough talent on the Seahawks roster to help Darnold and the team succeed.