Seahawks' Sam Darnold places 25th in PFF QB rankings
The Seattle Seahawks signed Sam Darnold to a three-year contract worth more than $100 million in free agency to be their new starting quarterback. Darnold enjoyed a career-best year with the Minnesota Vikings last season, throwing for 4,319 yards and 35 touchdowns. Despite that, there's still widespread doubt over his actual abilities.
Pro Football Focus recently ranked all 32 projected starting quarterbacks in the league. Breaking them off into tiers, Darnold placed in Tier 5, "veterans capable of solid play, but could quickly be replaced." Darnold checks in at No. 25 overall, the top-ranked QB in his tier (as if that's some sort of consolation prize).
"The big question for Darnold and the Seahawks is which version of the quarterback shows up in 2025," John Kosko asks. "Will it be the one we saw from 2018 to 2023, when his highest-graded season was just a 66.0 as he struggled with decision-making and offensive consistency? Or will it be the quarterback who earned an 85.8 grade over the first 17 weeks of the 2024 season and helped lead the Vikings to 14 wins? His late-season regression and playoff struggles were concerning, and he'll be working with a less talented supporting cast in Seattle."
As terrific as Darnold was throughout the majority of 2024, critics are asking if it was a one-off performance after he was previously written off as a first-round bust. Darnold's late-season regression was concerning. The Vikings were blown out 31-9 by the Detroit Lions in a division-deciding Week 18 finale, and they followed that up with a 27-9 embarrassment against the NFC West winning Los Angeles Rams on Wild Card Weekend.
Darnold has to earn respect in Seattle before QB ranking pieces view him more favorably.
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