NFL analyst says what no Seahawks fan wants to believe about Sam Darnold

There is a lot to dislike about Sam Darnold, but there are promising signs too. Seattle Seahawks general manager John Schneider is counting on that last part for the team to be successful in 2025. It's a big gamble.

Darnold has only had one good season out of seven in the NFL, and that came last year with the Minnesota Vikings. The quarterback had the advantage of throwing passes to Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison, and T.J. Hockenson and working with offensive-minded head coach Kevin O'Connell.

Will Darnold be able to replicate his 2024 success with Seattle in 2025? One NFL analyst doesn't think so.

NFL analyst has loads of doubts about Seattle Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold

Lou Scataglia of NFL Spin Zone has a recent article about three 2025 offseason quarterback decisions that will not work out well. One of those is Darnold, and we will get to the other two in just a bit.

All of this should come with the caveat that Scataglia has seemingly made it his personal mission to disparage any quarterback who has played for the Seahawks over the last decade. He poor-mouthed Geno Smith for several years and is still doing the same now that Smith is with the Las Vegas Raiders.

Ahead of the 2024 season, Scataglia ranked the Seahawks quarterback room with Smith and Sam Howell as the fourth-worst in the league. There was no joke intended, even though Smith alone is clearly much better than a ranking of 29. The writer appears to often let his personal bias get in the way of facts.

By the way, the other quarterback of the three QB offseason decisions that will blow up is Russell Wilson. In other words, Scataglia has named each of the past three presumed starting quarterbacks as the three poor decisions this offseason.

Scataglia writes of Seattle's new QB1, "With the veteran QB not being able to establish himself as a franchise QB in this league, signing with yet another team may only reset things, and it would not shock me if Seattle decided to blow up their QB room in 2026 and perhaps try to build around Jalen Milroe and another QB."

Still, that doesn't mean he is wrong about Darnold. The quarterback does have some legitimate questions. While he had 35 touchdown passes and just 12 interceptions last year, in his six seasons before that he had 63 touchdowns and 56 interceptions. A terrible ratio.

Plus, as good as Darnold was in 2024, he was not good in the final two games of the season for the Vikings, one of them a playoff loss. That doesn't portend greatness in 2025.

How good Sam Darnold is in 2025 will depend on how well the Seattle offensive line can protect him. While this could be said of any quarterback, Darnold has historically struggled more than most with pressure in his face. Geno Smith had an issue in 2024 with red zone decisions, but Darnold has made a career out of inconsistency.

The positives are that the Seahawks O-line could be much better, especially after drafting Grey Zabel, the presumed starter at left guard this season, in the first round of the 2025 draft. Also, new offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak's system should be a good fit for Darnold.

Ultimately, Seattle doesn't need Darnold to be an All-Pro. The team needs him to be efficient. The Seahawks will highly succeed or be mediocre based on how good the defense is.