Seahawks' Sam Donald drops, Russell Wilson plummets in new NFL QB rankings

Sam Darnold's late fumble against the 49ers cost the Seahawks a game and himself a couple of spots in The Athletic's weekly QB rankings.

Seattle Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold (14) hands the ball off to Kenneth Walker III (9) | Steven Bisig-Imagn Images

He wasn't as good as Geno Smith. But he was better than Russell Wilson.

In the end, new Seattle Seahawks' quarterback Sam Darnold is sandwiched somewhere between his two predecessors. According to The Athletic's weekly NFL quarterback rankings he's still a middle-of-the-pack performer.

MORE: Geno Smith far outdid Sam Darnold in respective debuts, analyst claims

In his Seahawks' debut, Darnold had a chance to make quite the favorable impression. With completions of 11 and 40 yards to Jaxon Smith-Njigba, he drove Seattle inside San Francisco's 10-yard line in the final minute down only 17-13 at a deafening Lumen Field.

But instead of a game-winning play, Darnold produced, well, a Darnold. Bumped into my right tackle Abe Lucas - who was shoved into his lap by 49ers' rusher Joey Bosa - Darnold fumbled and that was it.

He threw for only 150 yards, but had his team in position to win. Until he didn't.

MORE: Sam Darnold rejects idea that he should have seen more preseason snaps

For his crunch-time turnover, Darnold dropped from No. 14 to 17 in The Athletic's rankings. For guiding his Las Vegas Raiders to a road win over the Patriots, Geno Smith jumped from 17 to 15. And Wilson, who led the Seahawks to their only Super Bowl, was the week's biggest dropper - from 25 to 30 - after failing to lead the New York Giants to a touchdown in their loss at Washington.

The Top 5 remained the same although with a bit of shuffing: 1. Josh Allen, 2. Lamar Jackson, 3. Patrick Mahomes, 4. Joe Burrow, 5. Jayden Daniels. The biggest jump of the week was by the Chargers' Justin Herbert, who moved into the Top 10 at No. 9 after upsetting the Chiefs in Brazil.

Seattle Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold (14) looks to pass against San Francisco 49ers | Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images

More Seahawks on SI stories