Details on Sam Darnold’s oblique injury provide a bit of relief for Seahawks fans

Let’s all be grateful that Sam Darnold had his press conference within fifteen minutes of the injury report heard around the world getting published.

It was quite a scary fifteen minutes, on what was otherwise a very promising injury report. Despite a significantly long list of injuries during the week, only two players had any kind of status for this weekend’s game against the San Francisco 49ers. And one of them is a backup tackle who, hopefully, will not be needed.

But the other guy? Pretty darn important, and also not listed on any prior injury report this week. Sam Darnold, the Pro Bowl signal caller for the Seahawks, showed up as limited with an oblique injury, and was deemed questionable for Saturday. The injury came out of nowhere, and the fanbase immediately started to panic.

We had a video of Darnold on the practice field, pressing a theragun to his shoulder. We had Kubiak in a presser, saying he had nothing to say about Darnold and would defer to Macdonald for comments about him, other than to say Drew Lock got some reps with the starters. For a few minutes there, it actually seemed like a surprise Drew Lock start was on the table.

Luckily, Sam Darnold took the podium to address the fears and concerns shortly after Kubiak, and his comments have largely comforted an antsy fanbase. Per Brady Henderson, he “felt something during the routes-on-air portion of today’s practice in the oblique on his left side, and he decided it was best to not push it.” He got some rehab on it, but is confident he’s playing.

When pressed, he even said he felt like there was a near 0% chance that he wouldn’t play, which is about as definitive as it gets. Furthermore, according to him, the injury is on his left side, which is his non-throwing side. This means that, even if the injury is serious, he’s going to be far more likely to be able to get through the game and survive the pain.

It’s also been pointed out by some that the theragun application was being done to Darnold’s throwing shoulder, not the oblique, and is probably just a part of regular maintenance and treatment for any quarterback over the course of a season, so the correlation to this particular injury seems thin.

Oblique injuries for a quarterback are no joke, as so much of playing the position is twisting your body to make throws, but it seems like the missed practice reps were out of an abundance of caution rather than anything to be truly concerned about. So expect Sam Darnold to suit up and start for the Seahawks on Saturday, and expect him to perform.

Seems like Darnold will be okay. — Seattle Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold (14) drops back to pass against the San Francisco 49ers. | Neville E. Guard-Imagn Images

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