Sam Darnold Expected to Take Major Step Back After Leaving Vikings

The Minnesota Vikings were essentially a perfect fit for quarterback Sam Darnold in 2024, and that led to the best year of his career and a $100.5 million contract from the Seattle Seahawks earlier this offseason.

However, Darnold is unlikely to recreate that success in Seattle in 2025 for multiple reasons. Kevin Patra of NFL.com laid out those reasons when predicting a significant step back for Darnold in the upcoming year.

“I’m not going to project Darnold to double down on a career year. He’s going from a near-ideal offense to one with question marks at receiver and interior O-line,” Patra wrote on Thursday, May 22. “Last year, Darnold displayed an ability to make the right read and showed fearlessness zipping the ball into traffic. All those glowing pre-draft reports finally looked accurate. Then came the disastrous final two games, when it looked like his ghosts of yore returned. The reality is that he’s probably somewhere in the middle.”

Darnold went from among the better passers in the NFL when he had adequate time to throw in Minnesota to a below-average signal caller when he didn’t, clearly bothered by pressure to a troubling degree.

“The biggest question in Seattle is whether the interior offensive line, led by first-round pick Grey Zabel, can protect Darnold enough for him to thrive,” Patra continued. “If so, the match with [Seahawks offensive coordinator Klint] Kubiak should be a good one. If they struggle, we’re likely to see that Week 18 Darnold, with a lot of high passes while he gets crushed by defenders.”