Quarterback movement was the theme of the day on Monday, and while there were no real shocks, the surprise that is Sam Darnold departing Minnesota after a very good season is now palpable.
As is Darnold’s name on a new contract with another NFC team.
That team would be the Seattle Seahawks, who signed the former Southern Cal Trojan, New York Jet, Carolina Panther, San Francisco 49er and, most recently Minnesota Viking, to a three-year deal.
ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported that the deal is for $100.5 million over three years, and with $55 million guaranteed.
Darnold was the third overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft by the Jets, and was there for three not-so-great years, but the Jets haven’t done a lot of great things since Rex Ryan was guiding them to AFC Championship Game appearances. Kind of makes one wonder why Rex isn’t still there.
At any rate, Darnold wound up with the Panthers for two years, then one backing up Brock Purdy with the Niners before signing with the Vikings before the 2024 season. Darnold, now 27, threw for 4,319 yards and 35 touchdown passes, and helped the Vikings to a 14-3 overall record.
He will see a familiar face in Seattle: former Niners passing game coordinator Klint Kubiak, now the offensive coordinator with the Seahawks after Ryan Grubb departed for the University of Alabama.
It’s been an offseason of change in Seattle: Tyler Lockett, long a franchise favorite wide receiver, was released last week, one of the Seahawks’ final ties to its glory-year Super Bowl “Legion of Boom” days and the coach Pete Carroll regime.
Then D.K. Metcalf was shipped to the Pittsburgh Steelers in a trade, and the man Darnold replaces, Geno Smith, was sent to the Las Vegas Raiders in another, reuniting him with Carroll, who will be in his first year with the Raiders this fall (you know, in his 70s).
There is this: Darnold had a very good year, his best as a pro, but in the final two games of his tenure in Minnesota, he was sacked 11 times and the Vikings went 0-2, eliminated from the postseason by the Los Angeles Rams.
Darnold had signed with Minnesota to begin with after the Vikings drafted former Michigan standout J.J. McCarthy, but McCarthy suffered a season-ending knee injury during the preseason. The job was Darnold’s, and he parlayed it into the Seattle signing on Monday.
