Sam Darnold and Baker Mayfield are good friends and have been for years. One can assume that Mayfield and Darnold have talked about contracts at some point, maybe even about Mayfield's recent issues trying to get an extension from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Seattle Seahawks fans can rest assured that the same drama won't unfold with Darnold.
The reason is clear and comes down to one person: General manager John Schneider. Seattle does business differently, and while the Bucs just extended their quarterback for three years and as much as $165 million, they did so just before the season began, and Mayfield put an end to any contract discussions.
Darnold isn't due for an extension yet. He signed last offseason for three years, so his current deal runs through 2027. Next offseason, assuming the Seattle quarterback stays healthy and productive this season, Schneider will probably aggressively pursue extending the QB.
Seattle Seahawks likely won't address the Sam Darnold situation the way the Buccaneers did with Baker Mayfield
12s can have faith that this will happen because recently, the Seahawks have done business a little differently. When Pete Carroll was still in charge of the roster (as he was from 2010 through the 2023 season), the team didn't usually ink players to deals a year or two early. Schneider has changed that process and has been far more proactive in inking key players to extensions.
This offseason, the elite GM signed edge rusher Derick Hall, wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba, and cornerback Devon Witherspoon to extensions. Hall was signed through 2026. With their fifth-year options picked up, Witherspoon and JSN were under contract with the team through 2027.
Mayfield had a good reason for saying he didn't want to have his representative talk to the Buccaneers during the season, and that was because the quarterback wanted to focus on football. The contract situation would work itself out one way or another, either through being extended, franchise-tagged, or signing with another team.
The same will be true with Sam Darnold, but with John Schneider in charge of the financial position, Seattle Seahawks fans will probably not have to wait until the beginning of next season to know if their team is going to extend the player they hope will be the long-term QB1.
Instead, in the late spring or summer, probably before training camp, Darnold will have an extension in place with the Seahawks. Darnold doesn't appear to be the kind of person who would invite drama into his time with Seattle anyway, and Mayfield tried to avoid that too before signing for another three seasons beyond 2026 with Tampa Bay. One friend would likely follow the path of the other.
As far as the money, if Darnold is as good as he has been in the past two seasons with Seattle in 2026, $55 million a year on average in an extension is certainly not out of the question. The market only continues to increase for NFL position groups. Schneider also has shown no fear in giving players market-busting deals, as he did with Smith-Njigba and Witherspoon.
Ultimately, the hope is that Sam Darnold proves worthy of all that new money. John Schneider isn't going to put himself in a bad position, however. When the extension is done before the beginning of the 2027 season, Schneider will probably leave himself an out after the first year of the contract. That would just be another smart move by the best general manager in the NFL.
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