I know it's just minicamp. But I'd be much more comfortable if the starting quarterback had thrown four touchdown passes in six drives in the red zone, instead of one in seven. Once the pads are on, we'll see. But at the moment, Seattle Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold doesn't look like a $100 million man.
I know all the qualifiers. The Seahawks' new starting QB was going against the first-string defense. That defense is largely intact from last year and is expected to be even better this year. Meanwhile, the offense has new players in key roles. Add that third-round pick Jalen Milroe scored against Seattle's third-stringers, and it isn't exactly a fair comparison.
Then again, Milroe wasn't throwing to Jaxon Smith-Njigba. He's throwing strikes to guys like tight end Marshall Lang. You know, one of the undrafted rookies who barely has a chance to make the practice squad. You can be quite sure he isn't running routes as clean as Cooper Kupp. So, what to make of the competition so far?
Seahawks may not have a competition at quarterback - yet
As I said a the beginning, it's concerning. But it's also only June. New Seahawks offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak is still installing a brand-new offense. Seattle's new offensive line coach, John Benton, is installing a new zone blocking scheme.
When you're going against a defense that's largely intact from 2024, running the same scheme as 2024, and bolstered by the addition of the multi-talented Nick Emmanwori, that spells trouble for the first unit.
I wasn't the biggest fan of bringing in Sam Darnold from the start. Now, by no means does that mean I'm rooting against the guy. It's simply that there's reason for concern that a player who's had one very good season out of seven might not be the franchise player you hoped for.
Yes, I am quite aware that Darnold and Geno Smith both got off to their respective crappy starts with the same awful organization, the J-E-T-S Jets Jets Jets.
Hopefully, the Seahawks signed the Sam Darnold of the first 16 games for the Vikings, and not the guy who basically no-showed in week 17 and their first-round playoff loss. The odds are pretty strong that they got the good version. His passer rating was over 100.00 in 13 games last year.
His TD to INT ratio was 34 -7 in those games. It's safe to say that if not for Darnold, Minnesota wouldn't have been in the playoffs at all.
As for Jalen Milroe, he's still a very raw talent. But he's grown throughout rookie camp, OTAs, and minicamp. It's been noted in multiple outlets that he's shown up at 4:30 am to get in extra work. Head Coach Mike Macdonald couldn't verify this, as he made it clear to the media that he certainly isn't at the VMAC at that ungodly hour.
Could Milroe surpass Darnold to take the number one spot? At some point during the season, sure. He'd first have to move past Drew Lock, and based on what we've seen so far, that won't be an easy task, either. But ask the Falcons how hard it is to bench a $100 million QB you just nabbed from the Vikings, in favor of a rookie. In their case, a $180 million QB.
I think it's much more likely that the Seahawks will give Darnold every chance to succeed, regardless of how he looks in training camp. He'd have to be absolutely awful in his preseason games for Macdonald to even consider making a move. He's already made it clear that Darnold is his guy.
And even then, it would almost certainly be to Lock. Now, if the wheels come off in the first few games, and Lock doesn't step up, well...there's a very good chance we'll revisit this conversation.