How Sam Darnold's Latest Injury Impacts the 49ers

Injury luck hasn't been on the San Francisco 49ers' side all season long. That's been their nightmare theme of 2025, which is also why it's impressive they've made it this far into the season.

Other teams would've broke by now with the plethora of injuries sustained. It's just been horrendous luck for the 49ers, but it seems the Seattle Seahawks have gotten a bit of bad injury luck.

Sam Darnold appeared on the Seahawks' injury report with an oblique injury. It's highly unlikely he misses the divisional playoff game, but it is something to monitor.

Darnold had an average game against the 49ers last time, and he was fully fit. Imagine how much that will impact the 49ers now that he is dinged up.

How Sam Darnold's injury impacts the 49ers

There isn't too much to imagine.

The impact is minimal, if there's any at all. For starters, Darnold has two days to rest and recover from his oblique. That can be sufficient time for him to have his performance unaffected.

Even if it does bother him a bit, how much is that going to impact his throws? That is where the real concern the Seahawks will have with him.

The torque and twist with his torso and hips when he throws will be the issue. It could cause accuracy issues for him on throws deep, towards the sidelines, and throws he needs to add heat to.

But that most likely won't be an issue unless he worsens his injury from now on or during the game. It won't be because he gets hit on a throw or sacked.

The 49ers can't generate an effective pass rush to save their lives, so Darnold is fine there. It will have to derive from his passing, which the Seahawks don't need to do a lot of.

Sam Darnold said he expects to be ready to play. Said there is close to 0% chance he won’t play. pic.twitter.com/BeUOujGZAo
— Brian Nemhauser (@hawkblogger) January 15, 2026

In Week 18, Darnold only attempted 26 passes. That's three more attempts than in Week 1 against the 49ers. Seattle doesn't want to sling it heavily against the 49ers, even if their defense is depleted.

They identified what the key to success is against the 49ers two weeks ago, and that's by running the ball. It will be the same game plan on Saturday in the divisional playoff round.

There is zero reason to believe the Seahawks will deviate from it. They know the 49ers are expecting it, but what difference does it make if they struggle against it?

This is ultimately why Darnold's oblique injury is a moot point. The Seahawks aren't trying to throw it a lot anyway. In fact, they were hiding Darnold most of the time in the last game.

It will be the same in this upcoming game. Unless the 49ers somehow put up plenty of points and take a lead, then the demand for Darnold to throw won't be there, thus protecting his injury.

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How Sam Darnold's injury impacts the 49ers

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