If the Seahawks thought that by signing Sam Darnold as a free agent this offseason they had settled on a tidy way what could have been a messy situation after the Geno Smith trade, they were wrong.
If Darnold thought that a Pro Bowl season with the Vikings in 2024 and that lucrative deal with Seattle would change how he might be perceived, he was also wrong.
Those are the two takeaways from a newsy opening week of organized team activities (OTAs) for the Seahawks and the quarterback who led the Vikings to 14 wins last season.
Darnold threw a few bad passes on Monday in Seattle’s first practice that was open to the media, while veteran backup Drew Lock was sharp. Then there’s the matter of Jalen Milroe, an intriguing but raw prospect chosen in the third round of this year’s draft out of Alabama.
It was enough that on Tuesday, Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald was asked by a host on his radio show whether there was anything aside from an injury that would cause Darnold to lose his starting job. Here’s the exchange:
Macdonald shut the question down pretty calmly and with humor, saying: “I respect you’ve got to ask it, but it’s just a crazy question. It’s not gonna happen. Sam’s our starting quarterback. We love him. He’s doing a tremendous job. I think it’s funny that the media is out there for the first day and all of a sudden they know exactly how good we’re going to be, how good all the players are, and all the tempos.”
For his part, Darnold talked Wednesday about the process of learning new teammates and a new system.
“I think at the end of the day, I want to go out there and play clean football, but also, I want to go through progressions and be aggressive,” he said.
