2025 Seahawks Most Valuable Player Rankings: #5

This free agent signing could have gone many different ways when the Seahawks made it in March of 2025, and it ended up going the best possible way in year one.

Seattle Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold (14) throws a pass against the Carolina Panthers during the first quarter. | Bob Donnan-Imagn Images

Over the next few weeks, I’ll be listing out my rankings for most valuable Seattle Seahawk player for the 2025 season, starting at #12 and counting down to #1.

A Franchise Quarterback Pivot

From 2022 to 2024, the Seattle Seahawks had Geno Smith at starting quarterback. Going into the 2025 season, I believed that the team would likely continue that for at least another couple years. At first, the team seemed to have the same idea, but negotiations ultimately broke down. The exact timeline isn’t clear, but Geno was ultimately traded to the Raiders.

A handful of days later, the Seahawks decided to pick up their new quarterback in free agency. And their decision wasn’t an immediately obvious slam dunk. Sam Darnold was coming off a great season in Minnesota, earning MVP votes and leading the Vikings to a 14-3 record, but his career before then had been one of disappointment and failure.

Seattle Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold (14) passes against the Los Angeles Rams during the first half in the 2026 NFC Championship Game. | Kevin Ng-Imagn Images

I wasn’t a huge fan of the move, although I admit the price was right (3 years at approximately $100 million made him one of the cheapest veteran starting quarterbacks in the league). It was hard to not be suspicious when Darnold’s one good season came with the coaching of Kevin O’Connell, and playing with the likes of Justin Jefferson. I just wasn’t convinced.

The Real Deal

It’d be a little dishonest to say that Sam proved himself from day one. If you want to be pedantic, his first game as a Seahawk was highly forgettable, and the Seattle offense failed to move the ball or score many points. After that, however, Darnold settled in and started providing a high level of play. There was even a time early in the season where he had light MVP hype.

4,000 passing yards, 25 touchdowns, 8.5 yards per attempt, a second pro bowl, the third-most points in the league, and feeding the ball to Jaxon Smith-Njigba on the way to his Offensive Player of the Year award. He was every bit the franchise quarterback that Russell Wilson and Geno Smith were prior to his arrival, but his fourteen wins outdid anything they had ever done.

Seattle Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold (14) rolls out against the Atlanta Falcons during the game. | Dale Zanine-Imagn Images

The turnovers got a little out of control at times. Sam led the NFL with twenty of them, and the impact of them was enough to remove him from realistic MVP contention. But even that didn’t take away from his overall effectiveness. And he turned the turnovers all the way down in the postseason, leading the team to a super bowl championship.

The Bottom Line

Darnold wasn’t the best quarterback in the league. Ultimately, the Seattle offense was a run-heavy unit that passed sparingly, and that has to be considered here. But for most of the season, Darnold’s big play ability and passing skills were the motor that made the offense actually move and score, even if he was protected from having high volume.

He kept plugging away through adversity, bouncing back from bad plays and bad games to get the job done. He fought through injury in the postseason, not letting his pectoral situation affect him negatively. He had his best game of the year in the NFC title game, when the team absolutely had to have it. He was, by every definition, a franchise quarterback.

Seattle Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold (14) exits the tunnel during player introductions before a game against the Los Angeles Chargers. | Steven Bisig-Imagn Images

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