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Sam Darnold Joins Tom Brady, Peyton Manning and Two Other Star QBs With 13-Win Season
Sam Darnold's first season with the Seahawks has gone incredibly well as after Sunday's win over the Panthers he has his new team sitting at 13-3 heading into a showdown with the 49ers on Saturday night that will determine the winner of the NFC West and the No. 1 seed in the NFC playoffs.
Darnold signed with the Seahawks as a free agent last March via a three-year, $100.5 million deal. The No. 3 pick in the 2018 NFL draft had a career year with the Vikings last season but Minnesota opted to go with J.J. McCarthy at quarterback, allowing Darnold to find a new home.
Darnold led the Vikings to a 14-3 record in 2024, throwing for 4,319 yards with 35 touchdowns and 12 interceptions.
His win on Sunday put him in an elite group of quarterbacks as he became just the fifth signal-caller in NFL history to have back-to-back 13-wins seasons.
Those other QBs? Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Aaron Rodgers and Brett Favre.
There are only 5 QBs in NFL history that have won 13 games in back-to-back seasons
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) December 29, 2025
— Tom Brady
— Peyton Manning
— Brett Favre
— Aaron Rodgers
— Sam Darnold pic.twitter.com/YuchcbYkpD
That's some pretty incredible company for the 28-year-old former USC star. It's also pretty wild considering that his NFL career got off to such a rocky start after being drafted by Jets and then spending a few years with the Panthers, one season with the 49ers, and one with the Vikings before landing in Seattle.
Speaking of the Vikings, they have to be wondering what could have been if they had decided to stick with Darnold as their QB. The Vikings are 8-8 this season with McCarthy missing a bunch of games due to injury.
Darnold and the Seahawks will travel to San Francisco to face the 49ers on Saturday night at 8 p.m. A win would give him another 14-win season and it would give the Seahawks the NFC West title and No. 1 seed in the NFC playoffs.
Not too shabby.
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Andy Nesbitt is the assistant managing editor of audience engagement at Sports Illustrated. He works closely with the Breaking and Trending News team to shape SI’s daily coverage across all sports. A 20-year veteran of the sports media business, he has worked for Fox Sports, For the Win, The Boston Globe and NBC Sports, having joined SI in February 2023. Nesbitt is a golf fanatic who desperately wants to see the Super Bowl played on a Saturday night.