Now that he’s officially a Seahawk, we just wanted to take a moment to say, thanks for a heck of a good season, Sam!!!! 14-3 outta nowhere and one of the funnest seasons to watch in franchise history! It was a blast!!! Best of luck to you Sam!!!!
One Jets draft bust is replacing another as the hope-injecting franchise quarterback for the Seahawks.
Sam Darnold reportedly agreed to a three-year, $100.5 million contract Monday with the Seahawks, filling an opening on the quarterback carousel that was created a few days earlier, when Geno Smith was traded to the Raiders.
The terms of Darnold’s contract are not random.
Darnold, 27, signed a nearly identical contract to his fellow 2018 top three draft pick and former Panthers teammate Baker Mayfield, who secured three years and $100 million with the Buccaneers last offseason.
Sam Darnold spent the 2024 season with the Vikings and enjoyed a career renaissance. AP
Darnold’s $55 million guarantee tops Mayfield’s $50 million.
Like Mayfield, Darnold changed the narrative of his career on his fourth team.
He threw for 4,319 yards and 35 touchdowns, went 14-3 as a starter and earned a Pro Bowl selection as a breakout star for the 2024 Vikings.
Darnold actually might have gotten a bigger contract if it wasn’t for the questions raised by his two stinkers at the end of the season — completing 18-of-41 passes with a division title on the line against the Lions and taking nine sacks and throwing an interception in the NFC Wild Card playoffs against the Rams.
“He had to get his money now,” one NFL agent told The Post. “If he went back to the Vikings and wasn’t as good — or he got benched — then what would his market have been next offseason?”
The Vikings’ future belongs to 2024 first-round pick J.J. McCarthy, so Darnold could not return there without fear of losing the starting job at his first hiccup.
Sam Darnold led the Vikings to a regular-season record of 14-3. USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Con
That left Darnold available, and the Seahawks’ inability to find common ground on a contract extension with Smith led to his departure last Friday.
Smith made the Pro Bowl in each of his first two seasons as the Seahawks starter in the post-Russell Wilson era, but he threw 21 touchdowns and 15 interceptions to handcuff a 10-win team in 2024.
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New Seahawks offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak worked with Darnold when the former was 49ers pass-game coordinator and the latter was Brock Purdy’s backup quarterback during the 2023 season.
Darnold replacing Smith in Seattle is slightly more direct than what happened in New York.
Smith, a second-round pick in 2013, left the Jets for a one-year stopover with the Giants in 2017, and Darnold arrived as a first-round pick in 2018. Ryan Fitzpatrick bridged those two eras.
He was also elected to the Pro Bowl for the first time in his career. USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Con
The Seahawks’ supporting cast around Darnold isn’t quite as attractive as it would’ve been last week. The deconstruction of one of the NFL’s best receiving trios began by releasing Tyler Lockett and continued with trading DK Metcalf to the Steelers.
If Darnold’s career proves anything, it’s that his weapons matter.
He bore the brunt of the blame for the under-talented Jets and Panthers losing early in his career, but looked like an entirely different player when throwing to Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison and T.J. Hockenson, with head coach Kevin O’Connell calling the plays.
O’Connell and Kubiak have roots in the same offensive system.
“I think he still has a higher ceiling than we’ve seen,” one offensive coach said. “Higher than Geno’s.”