Where does Sam Darnold rank amongst all NFL starting quarterbacks? Darnold remains a difficult evaluation for some because, despite leading the Seattle Seahawks to a Super Bowl championship last season, you can come up with plenty of reasons to strip away some of the credit a starting quarterback usually gets.
Seattle’s defense shut out Minnesota in week 13. Two weeks later, Jason Myers won the Indianapolis game by kicking six field goals. Then, in the biggest regular season game of the year, Rashid Shaheed turned a likely loss around with his fourth-quarter punt return. In those three crucial games, Darnold averaged 223 yards passing and threw a total of two touchdowns. Not exactly Hall of Fame numbers.
On the other hand, Darnold finished fourth in the league in passing yards and seventh in completion percentage. Despite Jaxon Smith-Njigba’s All-Pro season (which the QB obviously had something to do with), it’s not as if Seattle boasted multiple elite receiving options or the best offensive line in the league. So, where do you put Darnold?
Seattle Seahawks QB1 Sam Darnold’s falls out of the top ten in new rankings
Fansided's Christopher Kline puts Seattle’s QB at number 12. Actually, that’s not really true because Kline did not rank starting QBs. He ranked quarterback rooms, taking into account all quarterbacks on the roster. So I should be saying that he rated Darnold, Drew Lock, and Jalen Milroe as the 12th-best quarterback situation in the league.
But Darnold – or any team’s starter – is the overwhelming factor in the ranking. Especially if you consider that the Seahawks’ backups are about as neutral as you can get. Lock is a decent veteran backup. He might be slightly above average in his role.
Milroe showed nothing in his rookie season, and he may never get the chance to develop as a pro. Though his value could go up if new offensive coordinator Brian Fleury can design a few gadget plays for him, at this point, his impact is negligible.
That leaves Darnold as the undisputed top dog, and us with a question. Is that number 12 rating justified?
I think it is just a hair too low. The three QBs ranked ahead of him – sorry, the three QB rooms ranked ahead of him – belong to the Chargers, Bears, and Lions. I think you could make the case that Darnold should move ahead of Justin Herbert, Caleb Williams, and Jared Goff, although I admit that is no slam dunk.
Herbert clearly has a bigger upside reputation in the league. Playing behind a beleaguered line in 2025, he still got his team to the playoffs. But Darnold outpaced him in almost every category on the stat sheet. And at some point, Herbert’s playoff failures (0-3, a 1:2 TD/INT ratio) have to start counting against him. That seems especially relevant coming on the heels of Darnold's pristine playoff performance last year.
Williams was great in 2025, and he is obviously trending up. But are we really able to put him in the top ten based on one season? Compared to their last two years, Darnold is clearly superior.
Goff, in many ways, mirrors Darnold. High draft pick. Early failure. Later success. Gets knocked by some for being a game manager. That’s Darnold in a nutshell. They are very similar, except for this one thing. Sam Darnold won the Super Bowl last year. Jared Goff, who has played in high-level offenses under Sean McVay and Dan Campbell, has yet to do that.
Had Darnold been a one-year wonder, I might not push this as hard. After all, that’s one reason I would move him ahead of Caleb Williams. But he has now had great success with two different teams in two consecutive years. Maybe he shouldn’t be considered elite, but top ten? That seems reasonable.
If you’re a Seahawks fan and this bothers you the way it bothers me, here’s something to ease the pain.
Kline’s rankings – which, despite my Darnold complaints, seem pretty accurate to me – suggest there is very little correlation between stellar quarterback play and championship success. This is the most fascinating part of his rankings.
So you already know that the Super Bowl-winning QB last year finished 12th. The Super Bowl-winning QB from 2024 was even lower. Jalen Hurts ranked 16th, right in the middle of the league. (And I should note that Philly now has Andy Dalton on its roster, so the Eagles and Hurts were not downgraded based on depth.)
In all, half of the top ten QB situations failed to make the playoffs last year. Three playoff teams ranked in the bottom third, including the second-worst in the entire league. The average ranking of QB rooms for all 14 2025 playoff teams was 14th, which is just above the league’s midpoint.
Seattle faces a lot of challenges in trying to defend its crown this year. They play in the league’s toughest division (The Rams’ QB room was ranked fourth best, and San Francisco’s finished just behind Seattle at 13.) They lost several key players from last year’s squad. GM John Schneider does not have much draft capital with which to rebuild this year.
But the quarterback room is just fine. 12th best according to one ranking. Maybe a little higher, according to my own. And defending Super Bowl champion, regardless of where you put them.