Maybe the Seattle Seahawks lost in Week 5, and maybe quarterback Sam Darnold had another late turnover in a Seattle loss. The team is now 3-2, and Darnold had a fumble on the last drive of Week 1's loss and an interception on the last drive of Week 5's loss.
Besides those two plays, it is difficult to find fault with anything the quarterback has done since signing with the Seahawks in free agency this past offseason. To be sure, had the team still had Geno Smith, Seattle would have lost much worse than 38-35 to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Smith is having a terrible season, and Darnold has kept the team afloat even when they might not otherwise be. Was his interception unlucky at the end of the Bucs game? Yes, but he had also consistently led Seattle on the previous five drives.
Richard Sherman rightfully gives Seattle Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold his flowers
All of that is to say people are noticing what Sam Darnold is doing in 2025, and former Seattle Seahawks icon Richard Sherman is one of them. Tweeting during Week 5, and likely unchanged by what happened at the end, Sherman wrote, "Sam Darnold is ELEVATING himself into that Elite QB conversation with this Masterful performance."
Sam Darnold is ELEVATING himself into that Elite QB conversation with this Masterful performance.
— Richard Sherman (@RSherman_25) October 5, 2025
Weird capitalization aside, Sherman is correct. The quarterback might have two turnovers are the worst times in games this season, but his overall numbers are incredible. He's completing 73.1 percent of his passes (third in the NFL), has a quarterback rating of 114.8 (third), and leads the league in yards per attempt, net yards per attempt, and adjusted yards per attempt.
If not for those key turnovers, Darnold might be in the running for NFL MVP through the first five games. While those turnovers are bad, they shouldn't take away from how much worse the Seahawks would be if Seattle had a different quarterback.
If not for a trade, the Seattle Seahawks would have been stuck with Geno Smith, who leads the league in interceptions both this season and since the start of 2024, and has a quarterback rating of 75.6 (29th). He almost definitely would have been no better for his last team this season.
One thing is for sure: Sam Darnold is earning every bit of the three-year and $100.5 million deal he signed with the Seahawks this year, and he is worthy of keeping around longer than one season when Seattle would have had an out. Seattle might have just stumbled upon its quarterback of the future, after all.