Seahawks’ Sam Darnold Credits 2 Rivals in Super Bowl Win, Career Turnaround

Seattle Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold celebrated a Super Bowl win right where his NFL career turned around almost three years earlier.

Seattle Seahawks quarterback (14) Sam Darnold hugs head coach Mike Macdonald after the Seahawks’ victory over the New England Patriots during Super Bowl LX at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., on Feb. 8, 2026. Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images

Seattle Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold hoisted the Lombardi Trophy right where his whole NFL career had previously turned around at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California.

Darnold led the Seahawks to victory over the New England Patriots by a score of 29–13 on Sunday to win Super Bowl LX in a city where he once showed up as a backup quarterback. The former No. 3 draft pick in 2018 had looked like anything but a Super Bowl champion his first five years in the league, and eventually became a backup quarterback to a former Mr. Irrelevant, Brock Purdy, with the San Francisco 49ers, a major rival of the Seahawks, in 2023.

“It’s funny how it works,” Darnold told reporters afterward. “I didn’t play great football the first few years of my career. Then I come here to San Francisco, and I learned a ton. And I think because of that year in San Francisco, I was able to learn a ton.”

“Learn from Brock and coach [Kyle] Shanahan. And I was able to kind of learn and go to Minnesota and play good football there. I was able to come to Seattle and do the same. So, it’s funny how things work, but that’s life. I’m gonna continue to keep working,” Darnold said.

Darnold started the final game of the 2023 season at Levi’s Stadium and played well enough to land a one-year deal with the Minnesota Vikings as their backup quarterback in 2024. Opportunity came for Darnold that year when rookie quarterback and No. 10 pick J.J. McCarthy missed the season due to a meniscus tear.

Darnold relaunched his career with the Vikings, guiding the team to a 14–3 record and 4,319 yards passing with 35 touchdowns. That performance led to a three-year, $100.5 million deal with the Seahawks in 2025, and Darnold picked up there where he left off in Minnesota.

Darnold became the second quarterback ever to have back-to-back 14–3 seasons, throwing for 4,048 yards and 25 touchdowns. He then led the Seahawks through the playoffs turnover-free against the 49ers, Rams, and Patriots.

“Me and my dad don’t really cry very often, and I told my dad and my mom, ‘I’m here because of their belief in me,’” Darnold said. “They believed in me throughout my entire career, and I think that’s why I was able to believe in myself almost ad nauseam.”

Darnold’s promising collegiate career at USC turned into a nightmare with the New York Jets after he joined as the team’s No. 3 pick in 2018. In three years with the Jets, he went 13–25 and completed 59.8 percent of his passes for 8,087 yards and 45 touchdowns versus 39 interceptions.

Things didn’t improve with the Carolina Panthers after a trade in 2021, as he went 8–9 and completed 59.5 percent of his passes for 3,670 yards and 16 touchdowns versus 16 picks. The Panthers benched him, and his future looked like that of a backup and draft bust.

While Darnold has made vast improvements during the past three seasons, the Seahawks didn’t entirely ride his arm to their Super Bowl win. The Seahawks had a dominant defense and running game, and the Super Bowl MVP went to running back Kenneth Walker III.

Darnold only went 19–38 for 202 yards and a touchdown on Sunday against the Patriots. He helped his team get into field goal range on four possessions through the first three quarters, while his touchdown pass came only in the fourth quarter when the Seahawks had control of the game, 19–0, following a fumble by Patriots quarterback Drake Maye.

“I think it’s all about my journey,” Darnold said. “The reason that I’m here is because of my journey, because of the ups and downs, especially the downs that I went through early on in my career. I learned so much about myself, about football.”