The NFL is typically viewed as a “what have you done for me lately” type of business. And lately, Seattle Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold has been doing plenty.
The Seahawks are 5-2, poised as one of the top teams in the NFC, and Darnold’s play - coupled with the incredible emergence of Jaxon Smith-Njigba - has been a huge reason why. He’s completing 68% of his passes, has a 3:1 touchdown-to-interception ratio, and isn’t eating a ton of sacks with just nine in seven games.
But all of that is not enough to dissuade his detractors. To them, Sam Darnold still has a lot to prove, and the regular season isn’t the time to prove it.
Stephen A. Smith isn’t sold yet on Sam Darnold despite Seattle Seahawks' 5-2 start
Stephen A. Smith recently said on First Take that he isn’t buying into the Seahawks’ hype, impressive defense and all, because of Darnold.
“I saw the season finale of the regular season game after you were 14-2 last year. I ain’t letting that go,” Smith said. “I’m saying to you, I need to see. I need to see what [Darnold] is going to do as the season wanes.”
To Smith’s credit, Darnold’s 2024 season was a double-edged sword. He obviously played at a tremendous level, and not just in comparison to his previous work in the league. But, in the final two games, he looked a lot more like the first-round bust in New York than what Minnesota enjoyed for most of the season.
“If you that dude, Sam Darnold, you should be able to do it,” Smith said. “Let’s see what you’re going to do in Week 15, Week 16, Week 17, because we know it’s going to come down to that in the NFC West, right? Let’s see what you do in the playoffs as well. We ain’t going to just ignore all of that from last year.”
Again, the NFC West is not a division that can be won in Week 8 in 2025. All to Smith’s point, the Cardinals are better than their record, the 49ers are winning with Mac Jones, and the Rams are still one of the most dangerous teams in the NFL - with or without Puka Nacua.
It’s fair to see Darnold’s current role in Seattle as hauntingly similar to his lone season in Minnesota. He’s got a mixed bag of a run game, an elite receiver to lean on, and an electric defense to lessen the pressure on the offense. Seattle clearly looks like a playoff-caliber team, but the doubts and questions about their viability to make a Super Bowl run circle back to Darnold.
Nonetheless, Darnold has mostly proven his own viability as a starting quarterback in the NFL. But plenty of guys make a career out of being great regular-season quarterbacks. So now he’s entered into the next stage of quarterback conversations that ask, 'Can you win the big one?'
That’s the last thing to prove, and he can’t prove it until late December and early January.