Seahawks' Cooper Kupp takes Sam Darnold shot at Vikings

Before quarterback Sam Darnold helped the Seattle Seahawks defeat the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LX this past February, he guided the Minnesota Vikings to a 14-3 record and a playoff berth during the 2024 season. 

Nevertheless, the Vikings let Darnold reach free agency in March 2025, and he ultimately signed a three-year, $100.5M contract to join the Seahawks. During an appearance on "The Pat McAfee Show," Seahawks wide receiver Cooper Kupp took a bit of a shot at a Vikings team that may regret its Darnold-related decision. 

Moving on from Sam Darnold "didn’t work out great for Minnesota"

"Didn’t work out great for Minnesota," Kupp said about the Vikings moving on from Darnold, per Erik Anderson of Heavy. "You saw the repercussions of that." 

Kupp eventually added he was grateful that the Seahawks became the "benefactors of that decision."

For what it is worth, Darnold has said on multiple occasions since he became a Super Bowl champion that he understands why the Vikings were ready to pivot to 2024 first-round draft pick J.J. McCarthy last offseason. However, McCarthy struggled to remain healthy and also failed to impress over the first 10 regular-season starts of his young career. The Vikings signed Kyler Murray in free agency earlier this year, and he is on track to compete with McCarthy for Minnesota's QB1 gig. 

Cooper Kupp named "the coolest thing" about Sam Darnold

The New York Jets made Darnold the third overall pick of the 2018 NFL Draft, but they traded him to the Carolina Panthers after the 2020 season. The Panthers then gave up on Darnold after just a pair of campaigns, and he spent the bulk of the 2023 season as a backup with the San Francisco 49ers. 

"The coolest thing about Sam is he is one of the few, maybe one of the only quarterbacks in the history of the NFL, to be a high draft pick, be written off, go through multiple teams, multiple organizations, end up being a backup and then to come back and reemerge and then go and win a Super Bowl," Kupp said about Darnold.

Kupp also said that he has "so much respect for" Darnold. 

It remains to be seen if Murray will be able to resurrect his career with the Vikings as Darnold did. Then again, perhaps McCarthy will prove to be what Minnesota hoped he was in the spring of 2024.