For the Seattle Seahawks to be successful in 2025, Sam Darnold is going to have to acclimate to his new teammates quickly. The good part is that Darnold is no stranger to having to do this. Seattle will be his fifth team in eight seasons. In 2024, Darnold was thrust into being QB1 of the Minnesota Vikings, and got good fast.
Some of this might be due to the fact that the Vikings had very good skill position players. including arguably the best receiver in the league, Justin Jefferson. Minnesota's coach, Kevin O'Connell, also knew how to best use Darnold and fit the quarterback into his system, rather than the other way around.
This offseason, Darnold signed with the Seahawks, and while Jefferson is not going to say he wishes Darnold would have returned to the Vikings (very few players would make that kind of admission after a player leaves), the wide receiver did give Darnold some praise recently.
Justin Jefferson has high praise for new Seattle Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold
In a conversation about the top 100 players heading into the 2025 season (Sam Darnold ranked 72 on the NFL's list), Jefferson spoke about one of his favorite players of 2024, a 97-yard catch and run for a touchdown. During the play, the receiver marveled at how well the quarterback threw to a spot on the field where only Jefferson could catch the ball.
Jefferson said, "It was a great throw by Sam. He just kind of, you know, leading me to a spot and letting me go get it...he's just floating it and putting it into a spiral letting me run under it, so (Darnold's) deep throw accuracy is phenomenal."
"I was drooling when the play was called."
— NFL Films (@NFLFilms) July 18, 2025
.@JJettas2 breaks down his favorite Sam Darnold deep ball 👇 #NFLTop100 pic.twitter.com/mRWiVF4CBM
Seahawks fans have gotten used to having quarterbacks who throw deep well. Russell Wilson was likely the best in the league over a decade at making those kinds of throws. Geno Smith threw the ball on more of a line than Wilson, but was still accurate throwing the ball down the field. Darnold could make it three starters in a row who can throw deep well for the team.
The question that could be asked is if Darnold will have as many chances to throw deep as Wilson and Smith had. The Seahawks' new offensive coordinator, Klint Kubiak, has a scheme that is more about efficiency than explosive plays. Darnold and the receiving group will create splash plays, but likely not as many.
And that is OK. As long as Darnold and the Seahawks offense don't turn the ball over and eat a lot of clock while having a high percentage of scoring drives, the team should be successful, as the defense should be terrific.
Maybe Sam Darnold doesn't lead the league in long touchdown passes, but he could lead the Seattle Seahawks to the playoffs. Based on what Justin Jefferson said, however, if Seattle does need Darnold to be accurate when throwing a deep pass, the quarterback can certainly do that.