Sam Darnold is in the middle of a career resurgence and one of the most interesting on-field stories the NFL has ever had. This is great news for the Seattle Seahawks, who are benefiting from Darnold's resurrection, but it's also great news for him should he have another solid year ahead.
Darnold wasn't spectacular last season, even while leading the Seahawks through a playoff gauntlet of NFC West division rivals and an eventual Super Bowl win. In fact, his season with the Minnesota Vikings the year before was statistically more impressive, but it ended in an early playoff exit.
Darnold was solid, though, in his first year in Seattle; you have to give him that, and he's expected to be better next season. What Darnold has done, and what he's expected to do with the Seahawks, means a pay raise is likely headed his way, and NFL Network's Daniel Jeremiah believes that not only will the Seahawks pay Darnold, but they'll pay him extremely well.
The Seattle Seahawks will make Sam Darnold a $50 million quarterback, per NFL Network's Daniel Jeremiah
In due time, Darnold could join the ranks of quarterbacks that sit at or above the $50 million threshold. Dak Prescott is currently the league's highest-paid quarterback ($60 million), while Joe Burrow, Josh Allen, Trevor Lawrence, and Jordan Love all come in at the $55 million mark.
After them, Tua Tagovailoa ($53.1M), Jared Goff ($53M), Brock Purdy ($53M), Justin Herbert ($52.5M), and Lamar Jackson ($52M) round out the top 10.
According to Jeremiah, Darnold could soon join that group based on his field of work with the Seahawks, but it may not happen until next year. Jeremiah didn't say it, but if Seattle intends to wait until next year, the pressure to perform at an exceptionally high level may be on Darnold starting in Week 1 against the New England Patriots.
As for Darnold's extension, while a guest appearing on the Seattle sports talk show Brock & Sock, Jeremiah sounds confident that the Seahawks will eventually make Darnold a $50 million quarterback.
“I think he’s heading in that direction,”Jeremiah said. “If (the Seahawks are) going to stick to their guns on their policy and he comes out and has a year that approaches what he did last year, I would say he’s going to land in that ballpark.
“I think he’s also going to get the benefit of who he is as a person. It’s like, ‘OK, I don’t feel super comfortable paying this, but he’s going to allow me to feel a little more comfortable because of who he is and how he’s viewed.'”
So perhaps Darnold won't have to lead the league in all major categories after all, as Jeremiah seems to suggest. He should produce and continue to have the success he's had over the past two seasons; either way, Darnold appears to be on a trajectory toward a massive payday in the future.
A few years ago, no one would have expected that to be in Darnold's future. As for how a $50 million paycheck would affect the Seahawks, Jeremiah would go on to point out that a deal of that worth could put pressure on the Seahawks to extend their success in the draft and player development.
Signing big-time free agents at that point could become trickier with all of that money tied to Darnold. Having said that, John Schnieder has been drafting at a high rate for over a decade, and his most recent drafts have turned out some excellent picks. The Seahawks may actually be just fine with Darnold making all that money.
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