In real time, cutting Geno Smith loose and signing Sam Darnold was a surprise to many. Smith was on a bit of a career resurgence with the Seattle Seahawks, and Darnold was coming off his first great full season in his, at the time, seven-year NFL career. Making the switch to Darnold was risky, that's for sure.
Was Darnold's season with the Minnesota Vikings a mirage? Apparently not. In fact, despite how good Darnold was for the Vikings last season, he's been even better and gotten further this season with the Seahawks. He's officially turned his career around, and Mike Macdonald has to be feeling pretty good about all of it.
Macdonald was about to enter his second season coaching in Seattle when GM John Schneider decided to switch up the quarterbacks. That would have been an adjustment for Macdonald, for sure, but even in the moment, he admits to trusting the decisions of the front office over anything else, and those decisions have paved the way for Macdonald to coach Darnold in a Super Bowl.
Mike Macdonald looks back on the Seahawks signing Sam Darnold, admitting 'surprise' didn't cross his mind
Darnold had recorded a career-best in every quarterback statistic out there during his one year in Minnesota. He threw 4,319 yards, 35 touchdowns, with a 66% completion rate, and a 102 passer rating. Never in Darnold's previous six years had he ever sniffed any of those numbers. In fact, as far as yards are concerned, he had never surpassed even 3,000 yards until last year.
Darnold was experiencing a career-first: a good season. The Vikings, though, as perplexing as it is now considering their own quarterback situation, decided to move on from Darnold. That decision opened the door for the Seahawks to swoop in and lure Darnold west.
At the time, it was viewed as a risky move because of Darnold's track record and the possibility that his season in Minnesota would be a one-off.
When asked about his reaction to the Seahawks taking on Darnold last summer during this week’s Super Bowl media night, Macdonald spoke highly of Schneider and Seattle's top decision makers, giving his GM all the credit for the decision that has likely changed the franchise's trajectory for several seasons.
“When you ask ‘are you surprised’ or ‘were you expecting’ about things, that’s really not how we operate," Macdonald replied when asked if he was surprised by the Darnold signing.
“You’re really thinking about what are the decisions we have to make right now that are gonna help our team the most. As those things transpired in the offseason, to many people it seemed like it happened fast, and it happened over the course of a couple of days. For us, it was really a series of decisions we had to make. John deserves a ton of credit for navigating us and guiding us through those times. We were really excited that he was available. I felt like it was a great match from when that process started, and am really happy that it worked out.”
In the short term, Schneider's best move as the Seahawks GM might be trading for Rashid Shaheed mid-season this year. Long term, however, Schneider's best move may well be to move off Smith and trust Darnold. Smith hasn't worked out in Las Vegas, and his time there appears to be up if they draft Fernando Mendoza.
Darnold, on the other hand, has exceeded expectations with his new team, and the Seahawks are on the verge of winning a Super Bowl largely because of it. Macdonald has supported Darnold every step of the way, even while he struggled during the second half of the season, but Seattle kept on winning anyway.
Macdonald's post-game comments on Darnold after defeating the Los Angeles Rams said it all when he stated, "He shut a lot of people up tonight, so I'm really happy for him."
It would appear that Macdonald has his quarterback for the foreseeable future, and, yes, Schneider does deserve much of the credit for taking a shot on a quarterback whose Cinderella season could have turned back into a pumpkin. It clearly did not.