Sam Darnold landed a very lucrative contract this offseason in NFL free agency with the Seattle Seahawks. While he left the Minnesota Vikings, who helped him rejuvenate his career with an impressive 2024 season, Darnold is ready to become the franchise quarterback for the NFC West squad.
On the surface, Darnold signed a three-year, $100.5 million contract with the Seahawks. He got paid handsomely for the big-time year he put together with the Vikings.
Speaking of his big 2024 season, Darnold played in all 17 games in 2024. He completed 66.2% of his pass attempts for 4,319 yards, 35 touchdowns, and 12 interceptions, leading Minnesota to the playoffs and a 14-3 regular season record.
Looking at his new Seattle contract, Darnold has the potential to make massive bonuses throughout the year.
As shared by Ari Meirov of The 33rd Team, Darnold's new deal has a lot of potential incentives built into it.
While he gave a full list of them, including $500,000 for a 100+ passer rating, $500,000 for a 67.5% completion rate, $500,000 for making the playoffs, and a whopping $2.5 million if he wins a Super Bowl and plays 70% of the snaps.
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) April 8, 2025Sam Darnold's #Seahawks contract includes up to $15M in incentives (2025–2027):
Performance Incentives - Up to $7.5M total:
- 100.0+ Passer Rating (min. 224 attempts): $500K
- 28+ TD passes: $500K
- 4,000+ passing yards: $500K
- 67.5%+ Completion Rate (min. 224 attempts): $500K… pic.twitter.com/VVosAcelIV
If Darnold can have a similar season to the one that he had last year with the Vikings, he'll have a shot at bringing in quite a bit more bonus money.
NFL Network analyst Daniel Jeremiah recently spoke out about why he thinks the Seahawks are a great fit for Darnold.
"I think Seattle is the perfect place because they've seen a quarterback who was drafted … and it didn't quite work out for a while, and he just kind of needed to get in that right spot in that right fit and then off he goes," Jeremiah said. "So I was like, this is a Geno Jr. situation. I mean, it's history repeating itself."
