Seahawks Reveal Plan for New QB Jalen Milroe to Play Immediately

The Seattle Seahawks grabbed attention during the 2025 NFL draft by selecting quarterback Jalen Milroe in the third round, just months after signing Sam Darnold in free agency. While Seattle views Milroe as a developmental prospect, the Seahawks have already teased a plan to get the former Alabama Crimson Tide star on the field immediately.

Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald noted that the team plans to give Darnold at least 90% of the offensive snaps this season. Yet, Macdonald and John Schneider both indicated Milroe will see the field during his rookie season with specially designed packages.

“There’s always going to be an urgency in how we’re developing our players and how we’re training them,” Macdonald explained to reporters on April 26, 2025. “And Jalen’s going to be right there with everybody else. But yeah, Sam’s going to take, by far and away, over 90% of our snaps this year. However Jalen deserves and earns the right to go out there, then we’ll do that.

“If it’s going to help the team, it’s best for us to move the ball and give these defensive coordinators some headaches, which I’m really happy it’s not going to be us. So, that’s awesome. And yeah, I don’t want to put a timetable on it, but it’s not an immediate need for him to go out there and be taking a bunch of snaps for us initially.”

Seahawks GM on Jalen Milroe Being on Team’s NFL Draft Board: ‘He Was There by Himself (in 3rd Round)’

Schneider also indicated that Milroe was alone on the team’s draft board when the Seahawks were on the clock with the No. 92 overall pick in the third round. The Seahawks general manager detailed what the team saw in Milroe during the pre-draft process.

“He’s an incredible athlete,” Schneider said of Milroe during an April 26, press conference. “Very, very fast. I think literally it’s 21.2 (miles per hour) or something like that. You know, his GPS speed, but (also a) hard worker. And he’s … (an) academic Heisman Award winner. He’s had four different offensive coordinators, worked his tail off.

“His mom’s former (member of the) Navy. Dad’s a Marine. … He had a really great visit. And he was in a spot, and he just kept coming. And he was there by himself.”

The Seahawks Could Move on From QB Sam Darnold as Soon as 2026

This is still Darnold’s offense, but the structure of the quarterback’s contract means the pressure is already on the Seahawks new QB1. Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio revealed that Seattle could cut ties with Darnold after just one season based on how the deal is structured.

Darnold signed a three-year, $100 million contract this offseason, but the deal includes some flexible language.

“The structure allows the Seahawks to escape the contract after one year and $37.5 million,” Florio wrote in a March 16, story titled, “Seahawks can escape Sam Darnold’s deal after one year, $37.5 million.” “While it’s generally frowned upon for teams to scrap contracts when the guarantee flips from injury-only to full in the early days of the waiver period, that’s what the Raiders did with Derek Carr in 2023. (The good news for the player is that it gives him a head start on free agency, by more than a month.)”