How Sam Darnold has impressed Seahawks during training camp

It's no secret that one reason Sam Darnold signed with the Seattle Seahawks in free agency was that current Seattle offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak was Darnold's passing game coordinator when the signal-caller spent the majority of the 2023 season as a backup with the San Francisco 49ers.

For an article published on Thursday, NFL insider Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated explained how Darnold has impressed Kubiak and others within the Seahawks from the start of springtime workouts through the early days of training camp. 

"In 2023, with Kubiak on Kyle Shanahan’s staff, Darnold pushed Brock Purdy in a lot of different ways, in doing so showing how natural he was in the offensive scheme with his ability to throw with accuracy, move around and play faster without the weight of the world on his shoulders," Breer wrote. "Through the spring, and now into the summer, he’s shown all that, plus great velocity on the ball, capability to adjust with his receivers to different defensive looks and a willingness to be aggressive in getting the ball downfield."

The New York Jets traded Darnold to the Carolina Panthers roughly three years after the Jets made him the third overall pick of the 2018 NFL Draft. Carolina then gave up on Darnold after two seasons, but the career reset he enjoyed while working with Kubiak in San Francisco may have ultimately saved the 28-year-old's career. 

While with the 2024 Minnesota Vikings, Darnold went 14-3 as a starter to guide the club to the playoffs. That said, his poor performances over his final two games with Minnesota resulted in the Vikings handing control of their offense over to 2024 first-round draft pick J.J. McCarthy.

The Seahawks gave Darnold a three-year, $100.5M contract in March that Seattle could walk away from as soon as next offseason. Interestingly, Seattle also selected quarterback Jalen Milroe in the third round of this year's draft.

"Darnold’s coming off a very solid spring, and his experience is showing in his easy-going, unselfish style of leadership as a newcomer — which is marked by the experiences he’s had as a guy on his fifth team," Breer added. 

That's all well and good, but it remains to be seen which version of Darnold the Seahawks will get when they open the upcoming season with a home game against the 49ers on Sept. 7.