The Los Angeles Rams agreed to restructure the contract of Matthew Stafford in order to keep him around, and now, the Seattle Seahawks have agreed to trade Geno Smith to the Las Vegas Raiders.
That means the number of teams looking to fill their quarterback vacancy through a trade or free agency is diminishing, and therefore, Sam Darnold may now have some more clarity on where he may want to play next season.
Darnold, who had a revelatory 2024 campaign with the Minnesota Vikings, could end up signing with the Seahawks.
“The idea of Sam Darnold going to Seattle has a lot of traction in league circles, as a sort of second-order move to the Seahawks trade of Geno Smith,” NFL insider Albert Breer wrote on X. “We’ll see if it happens … but that would obviously set off some more dominoes.”
Darnold was long thought to be a bust and nothing more than a backup ever since his first three seasons as the New York Jets’ starter.
But in 2024, he threw for 4,319 yards and 35 touchdowns, which earned him his first appearance in the Pro Bowl and brought the Vikings to the brink of winning the NFC North.
The caveat, however, is that Darnold played very poorly in a Week 18 loss to the Detroit Lions that decided the division title, and he then was sacked nine times in a loss to the Los Angeles Rams in the wild-card round of the playoffs.
Seattle is also dealing with the trade request made by wide receiver D.K. Metcalf, so its roster likely will look a lot different in 2025.
