NFL teams expect this of Seahawks' Sam Darnold following departure of Klint Kubiak

While playing under then-offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak, quarterback Sam Darnold guided the Seattle Seahawks to a Super Bowl championship in his first season with the organization. 

Kubiak is now the Las Vegas Raiders' head coach, and the Seahawks ultimately hired former San Francisco 49ers assistant coach Brian Fleury to serve as Kubiak's replacement. For a piece published on Friday, NFL insider Jason La Canfora of SportsBoom US noted that opposing teams feel Darnold will continue to thrive while playing under Seattle head coach Mike Macdonald.

Seahawks hired an OC with Sam Darnold in mind

"Numerous coaches and execs familiar with Macdonald and Seahawks general manager John Schneider expect the playbook to remain largely the same and the Seahawks to continue attacking aggressively with play-action deep shots on early downs and looking to pick up chunks of yards even with Kubiak gone," La Canfora wrote. "Darnold himself has hinted at as much, noting the similarities in style and substance with new coordinator Brian Fleury in charge." 

Per Kevin Patra of the NFL's website, Darnold said earlier this week that working with Fleury this spring "hasn't been too much of a transition." That makes sense, as Fleury was previously on 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan's staff. Shanahan was Darnold's head coach during the 2023 season before the signal-caller resurrected his career with the Minnesota Vikings the following campaign. 

"The objective for the Seahawks now is to streamline things for the QB, who began to reverse his downward trajectory by working with 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan and Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell, who share an offensive lineage," La Canfora explained.

What Seahawks will want Sam Darnold to do under new OC

Pro Football Reference stats show that Darnold ended his first regular season with the Seahawks ranked fifth in the NFL with 4,048 passing yards and tied for ninth with 25 passing touchdowns. He also tallied a league-worst 20 turnovers, but the hope is that he'll lower that number now that he's a confident reigning Super Bowl champion. 

"I don’t think much is going to change at all," an NFL personnel executive said about what Darnold will experience later this year. "You’re going to be looking for the same tendencies in trends. It’s the same offense. Different play-caller, but it’s the Shanahan offense with a big-armed quarterback who wants to push it downfield to the tight ends and [top receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba]."