Mike Macdonald makes it clear how he feels about Sam Darnold's play so far

Seattle Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald is very impressed.

Sep 25, 2025; Glendale, Arizona, USA; Seattle Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald looks on against the Arizona Cardinals in the first half at State Farm Stadium. | Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images

The Seattle Seahawks got a lot of flak this offseason for their big gamble at quarterback. Effectively, they swapped out Geno Smith despite three straight winning seasons as their starter. Then they replaced him with Sam Darnold, who was coming off a breakout year with the Minnesota Vikings after an awful start to his NFL career.

It's still early in the experiment, but so far Darnold has done everything he possibly could to live up to the high standard he set last season in Minnesota. After four games, Darnold is in or near the top five in most traditional passing numbers and is ranked No. 1 at his position by Pro Football Focus.

Not everyone has gotten on board the Sam Darnold hype train, but you can count his head coach as a fan. Here's what Mike Macdonald said about his QB1 coming out of Thursday night's win, according to Seattle Sports radio.

Mike Macdonald on Sam Darnold

“Sam’s playing out of his mind right now,” Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald said. “You see him and he’s just such a cool customer. But he’s a guy on a mission. He’s just so determined for us to be a great team and a great offense. And he’s doing a great job leading us.”

Sep 21, 2025; Seattle, Washington, USA; Seattle Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold (14) warms up before the game against the New Orleans Saints at Lumen Field. | Steven Bisig-Imagn Images

The only blemish on Darnold's record thus far has been three turnovers.

The first was a lost fumble in the clutch against the 49ers. While the timing was obviously a bummer, it's tough to place too much blame on Darnold considering Abe Lucas was getting trucked backwards into his space by Nick Bosa just before he released.

The other two were a pair of interceptions in the first half against the Steelers. The first was not a perfect throw, but the pick was more a result of a great play on the ball by Jalen Ramsey than a miss by Darnold. The second was a poor decision to try to loft the ball over Cam Heyward, who tipped the ball, which led to an interception that Darnold was fortunate didnt end up as a pick-six.

So, you can make a case that Darnold has only made about one and a half clear mistakes in four starts, which have entailed 100 attempts. That's an excellent ratio, and one the Seahawks can certainly live with given what he's done on the other 98.5 and the strength of their defense.

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