ESPN NFL insider points out the painfully obvious about Seahawks' Sam Darnold

Sam Darnold is going to be the starter at quarterback Week 1 for the Seattle Seahawks, and head coach Mike Macdonald has made that very clear. The question is whether Darnold will still be worthy of being the starter when Week 7 and beyond arrive.

For 2025 to be a high-end success, the Seahawks need Darnold to be as close to how good he was in the first 16 games of the 2024 season when he was quarterbacking the Minnesota Vikings. If he reverts to how well he played in the first six seasons of his career (or the last two of last season), Seattle is in trouble.

General manager John Schneider did the right thing when signing Darnold, though, and ESPN NFL insider Dan Graziano has taken full notice. And he rightfully pointed out that Schneider was doing business as usual in Graziano's recent article about team-friendly contracts.

Sam Darnold could be a three-year steal for the Seattle Seahawks or one season and done

The NFL insider writes, "The Seahawks have a longstanding policy of not guaranteeing any money in veteran contracts outside of the first year. So Darnold's full guarantee consists of his $32M signing bonus, his $5.3M 2025 salary, and his $200,000 workout bonus. That's it. If the Seahawks want to walk away after this season, they'd owe him no more than that $37.5M."

To be fair, it's only a "longstanding" Seahawks policy because it is one Schneider created. He doesn't like to give guaranteed money after the first year of a veteran contract because one never knows how the veteran is going to work out with Seattle or if the player will remain healthy.

Deals like the ones Schneider does also have a certain implication of a lack of faith in the long-term success of a player. In the case of Darnold, Seattle might have committed nearly $40 million to the quarterback, but if he isn't as good as he was for most of last year, Seattle isn't hamstrung by his deal.

Darnold's 2025 success is certainly not guaranteed, though every Seahawks fan likely hopes he is as good as he was for most of 2024. If that happens, the Seahawks might have gotten a relative steal in a quarterback whose contract only pays him an average of $33.5 million a season over a three-year contract. That annual salary ranks 18th among quarterbacks.

Before 2024, Darnold had played six years in the NFL for three different teams and had a touchdown-to-interception ratio of 63-56. That's quite bad. Last year, his ratio was 35-12, which is obviously quite good.

If Darnold regresses to his pre-2024 level or creeps closer to it, Seattle will be looking at a new QB1 in 2026. Perhaps that player is already on the roster, though, in the person of Jalen Milroe.