NFL insider: 'Resurrected' Sam Darnold playing best football with Seahawks

At this rate, NFL teams might start to prefer finding reclamation project quarterbacks rather than trying to grow and develop their own franchise starters. In recent years there has been an explosion of previously written off QBs making massive break-throughs and turning into stars.

Josh Allen was the first and most astounding of these late bloomers, going from being an awful starter his firsy two seasons in the league to a regular MVP candidate. Next came Jared Goff, Baker Mayfield and Geno Smith.

Last year, it was Sam Darnold who made the big leap in conjunction with going to the Minnesota Vikings. This year it's Daniel Jones, who's playing at an unfathomable level with the Colts compared to early in his career with the Giants. Even Mac Jones is starting to come along now that he's been paired with Kyle Shanahan.

The lesson is that NFL teams may be giving up on their QBs too early, at least in some cases. Their loss is the gain of smarter teams that know how to develop a quarterback. Darnold is now the king of these reclamation QBs and Dianna Russini at the Athletic says he's playing his best football in Seattle.

"Darnold was supposed to rescue the Jets. That was, uh, monotonous. Baker was supposed to revive Cleveland. That didn’t work. Both quarterbacks wound up in Carolina — at the same time. The Panthers didn’t want them either... They all came up short for years, told by sports talking heads and their fans that they stink. Not anymore. Darnold looks resurrected in Seattle, playing his best football."

For now Darnold's traditional numbers are still in good-but-not-great territory.

Heading into Week 6, Darnold ranks sixth in passing yards, third in completion rate and seventh in touchdown passes. The closer you get to more complicated metrics, the better he does, though. Darnold is third in passer rating, second in QBR and first in a ton of advanced stats.

With a little more crunch-time luck and a bit more time to develop a chemistry with other pass-catching weapons who aren't named Jaxon Smith-Njigba and AJ Barner, Darnold could force himself into the top-five QB conversation.

Meanwhile, the Jets are still floundering and still looking for their long-term starter.

Oct 5, 2025; Seattle, Washington, USA; Seattle Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold (14) reacts with tight end AJ Barner (88) after a touchdown against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers during the second half at Lumen Field. | Steven Bisig-Imagn Images

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