Seattle Seahawks fans have a lot of reasons to be proud of their favorite franchise. The team is operating at a high level of success, but just as importantly, it is run by people who know exactly what they should be doing. Seattle might have had some recent difficult seasons, but at no point have they been one of their worst teams in the NFL.
One reason for the success in 2025 is that general manager John Schneider, who recently won the PFWA award for Executive of the Year, made a bunch of bold moves that reshaped the offense and changed the culture of the locker room. One of the moves was to add quarterback Sam Darnold.
Darnold played last season, and only one season, with the Minnesota Vikings. The Vikes went 14-3, but lost in the Wild Card Round of the playoffs. While the quarterback was very good for most of the year, he failed in the final two games of the season, and Minnesota decided not to bring him back in free agency.
Sam Darnold's Seattle Seahawks' success may have cost Vikings GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah his job
Instead, Minnesota chose to try ascending second-year pro J.J. McCarthy as QB1 again. McCarthy might have held that spot in 2024, too, but an injury in the preseason forced him to miss the season, and Darnold took his place. The issue was that Darnold was so good and such a great fit in head coach Kevin O'Connell's system, maybe the Vikings should have brought him back.
While Seattle with Darnold this year went 14-3 and will be playing in the Super Bowl against the New England Patriots, the Minnesota Vikings missed the playoffs, went 9-8, missed the postseason, and McCarthy was rather dreadful.
Would Minnesota have made a playoff push if it had re-signed Sam Darnold? Most likely. But the Vikings were clear that they never wanted Darnold back. Their loss was the Seahawks' gain. It might have also cost Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah his job. According to NFL insider Tom Pelissero, Minnesota fired Adofo-Mensah on Friday.
Adofo-Mensah had spent four seasons with the team, and Minnesota was consistently successful until it chose not to re-sign Darnold. Quarterback is obviously the most important position in the NFL, and Kwesi Adofo-Mensah made a terrible choice with that to do at QB. He might be OK at building a roster, but if one swings and misses at quarterback, there will be problems.
Not that this matters too much to happy Seattle Seahawks fans. The team has its own terrific general manager, but also a very good quarterback who is only 28 years old. While the Vikings search for a quarterback and a new GM, Seattle is locked into both spots with high-end quality for the foreseeable future.