Ridiculous Sam Darnold conversation arises after 4-interception day

Going into the 2025 NFL Season, there weren't many people or experts who had faith in quarterback Sam Darnold leading the Seattle Seahawks. Darnold has been playing at a near-MVP level through the first nine games of the season. He had his first bad game of the season in Week 11 when he threw four interceptions in Seattle's 21-19 road loss to the Los Angeles Rams.

While there is still a great chance for Darnold to turn his rough performance around moving forward, there are several people giving up on the potential of him being the long-term answer at quarterback for the Seahawks.

Sports Illustrated’s Al Breer was about the future of the quarterback position for the Seahawks in his weekly mailbag segment. Breer, who was petulant over the question, gave the best response he could without insulting the original poster.

“David, I can’t tell if this is a trick question. Am I being trolled?”

Breer was quick to mention Darnold’s consistency and productivity in his ten games as the Seahawks’ starting quarterback, outside of his four interceptions. He mentioned that Darnold was one of the most statistically sound players in the league.

Through ten games played this season, Darnold has completed 70.2% of his passes (second in the league) for 2,541 yards (seventh in the league), 17 touchdowns, 10 interceptions, and a QBR of 71.2 (fourth in the league). He is averaging a league-high 9.3 yards per completion based on his stellar deep passing game.

Darnold has shown himself to be an impressive leader this season through ten weeks and helped make the Seahawks serious playoff contenders, but the critics were waiting for the chance to jump on a bad game. That bad game came on Sunday as he forced his passes out while the Rams were in heavy dime packages. That was all it took for people to get back the ‘seeing ghosts’ segment from his days with the New York Jets.

The Seahawks had enough faith in Darnold during the offseason after a great run, but a bad ending with the Minnesota Vikings to sign him to a three-year; $100.5 million deal. It is way too early to start the rumor mill that he should be out, especially when the fire is started by trolls.

The person who asked the question didn’t have any affiliation with being a Seahawks fan. They did have a lot of positive responses to former Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith, who is now with the Las Vegas Raiders. It appears that they are a Geno stan and have a spite for Darnold for replacing him.

Ultimately, one bad game shouldn’t be the end of the world for Darnold’s tenure with the Seahawks, especially since the team is still in the NFC West Divisional title chase. The next options after Darnold are not great either. Seattle either turns to a backup in Drew Locke, a premature project in Jaen Milroe, or in free agency for someone like Kirk Cousins.