Sam Darnold is going to be the Seattle Seahawks' starting quarterback in 2025. He will likely remain that way as long as the team is winning games, no matter how well the offense is doing, and as long as he stays healthy.
Head coach Mike Macdonald has made sure there is no QB1 drama for Seattle heading into the season, but could there be QB2 drama? And if something happens to Darnold, especially if he plays poorly, could the QB2 drama roll over to who should be the Seahawks' starting QB? Maybe.
To be sure, the backup to Darnold should be Drew Lock, as he has played a home game for the Seahawks previously, and he is a veteran quarterback. He likely has also proven that he isn't any team's version of a long-term starting quarterback.
Seahawks rookie Jalen Milroe might make Drew Lock irrelevant
He has a good arm, but struggles with consistency and decision-making. Last year, he played for the New York Giants, and he threw four touchdown passes and zero interceptions in Week 17, and the rest of the season combined, he tossed two touchdown passes and five interceptions.
To make matters worse for Lock, who looked quite good in Seattle's offseason program under new offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak, rookie Jalen Milroe, a third-round choice out of Alabama, progressed at an astonishing rate. In rookie minicamp, he looked as raw as expected, but by minicamp, he had a good understanding of what the offense was trying to install.
Milroe struggled in his final season in college with short- and middle-range accuracy. He has the arm talent to make any throw on the field, but his decisions on who to throw to and when are iffy. It's the kind of indecisiveness that will get his team beat. But that might be changing in the NFL.
Yes, the Seahawks and Kubiak have barely started installing the full offense, but Milroe has also shown he is willing to put the work into doing whatever is needed to be at his best with whatever Kubiak employs. He shows up at Seahawks headquarters in the early morning hours, and he stays after for more work.
If Milroe fails, it won't be because he didn't try his best to succeed. It will be because he simply isn't accurate enough of a passer to help Seattle's offense score points. But he might become a very accurate quarterback, especially if he puts in the work to address his technique, which he is already doing.
Seattle is probably going to carry three quarterbacks into the 2025 season. This is rare under general manager John Schneider, but not rare for a Kubiak offense. This is even more probable as Seattle will have two quarterbacks new to the team, and Lock has never played under Mike Macdonald (he spent Macdonald's first year with the Giants).
But if something happens to Darnold, injury or inefficiency, the Seahawks could turn the reins over to Milroe, as he could be the future quarterback of the franchise, and Lock appears to be more of a long-term backup with whichever team he plays for.