Sam Darnold earned some incredible praise from Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald.
When the Seattle Seahawks signed Sam Darnold away from the Minnesota Vikings in free agency, it changed the NFL landscape forever.
By shipping Geno Smith to the Las Vegas Raiders and signing the top quarterback on the free agent board to a nine-figure contract, the Seahawks secured their future and guaranteed that other teams with big QB needs, from both New York teams to the Pittsburgh Steelers, and even the Vikings, would have to look elsewhere to secure their 2025 signal-caller.
But what was it about Darold that attracted the Seahawks to him? Well, in an interview on SiriusXM NFL Radio, head coach Mike Macdonald broke the decision down, letting fans know that he's as excited to work with the person as the player, as he's heard nothing but good things dating back to his collegiate run back at USC.
“I think it's interesting because I haven't had a relationship with Sam before a couple weeks ago, and it's been awesome so far, our conversations,” Macdonald said via NFL.com. “It's been really cool to hear about people that have had a relationship with him in his life kind of throughout his journey, and all positive things they say about him. All the way back to his college days at USC, we have some of those folks still in our building right now.
“I'm most excited about the person, the leader, the teammate, that guy that we get to work with every day. I think he's in a great spot from our conversations. I think he's energized, he's driven and just like the rest of us in the building, so he's going to fit right in.”
After recording his first elite season as an NFL player in 2024, it makes sense that Darnold would be energized to have a great season in 2025 and beyond, as his career was looking downright bust-y before Kevin O'Connell unlocked the player many fans expected him to be back in 2018. Throw in his willingness to accept a middle-of-the-road contract with the Seahawks over multiple years, and the choice to get into the Darnold business was likely as hard as Macdonald suggested, which, based on his words, wasn't too hard at all.
