How Sam Darnold has been 'a pain in the butt' for Seahawks this summer

Previous stories noted how quarterback Sam Darnold has impressed Seattle Seahawks offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak and others within the organization after Seattle signed Darnold to a three-year, $100.5M contract in March. 

While speaking with reporters on Monday, Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald expanded on how Darnold has improved from the start of springtime workouts through the first three weeks of training camp as it pertains to "playing on time" in Kubiak's offense. 

"It's a pain in the butt," Macdonald said while speaking about Darnold, as shared by Brady Henderson of ESPN. "He's getting the ball out fast. He's accurate. He's making fast decisions. Operationally, we're still working through a couple things, but I was just telling him yesterday, it's a pain in the butt to pressure him because the ball's out and it's hard to get to him."

The Seahawks had quarterback Geno Smith on track to enter the final year of the three-year contract he signed in March 2023 when the club traded him to the Las Vegas Raiders this past March. Macdonald and Co. indicated with their actions that they view Darnold as an upgrade at the position, but it's worth noting that Seattle could walk away from Darnold's contract as soon as next offseason.

According to Pro Football Reference, Darnold finished the 2024 regular season ranked sixth in the NFL among qualified quarterbacks with a 102.5 passer rating. He was also fifth with 4,319 passing yards and fifth with 35 touchdowns through the air as he helped the 2024 Minnesota Vikings win 14 of 17 regular-season games. 

That said, only three quarterbacks took more sacks than Darnold (48) during his single campaign with Minnesota. 

"He's very smart," Seattle defensive tackle Jarran Reed added about Darnold. "He's a smart quarterback. The ball definitely comes out fast, and we can tell some things from film that we can change up that he notices, and that's good when you can see that from both ends."

Darnold will work on getting the ball out quicker on pass plays as Seattle prepares to open the upcoming season with a home game against the San Francisco 49ers on Sept. 7. As of Tuesday morning, DraftKings Sportsbook had the Seahawks as 2.5-point underdogs for that game.