Vikings head coach on what Sam Darnold brings to the Seattle Seahawks

This season, the Seattle Seahawks will be turning their offense over to a new quarterback. They replaced Geno Smith with Sam Darnold, the third overall pick from the 2018 NFL Draft who had a career rebirth with the Minnesota Vikings in 2024.

Also new to the team is Klint Kubiak, an offensive coordinator who runs a system similar to Kevin O’Connell — the head coach of the Vikings. That’s one of the reasons Darnold was seen as a fit in Seattle as soon as Smith was traded.

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According to O’Connell, however, Seattle isn’t just going to get a player who will be comfortable in their offense. They’re also getting a gifted athlete who can “make every throw.”

"I think he's a guy that's smart, has command of the system, athletically gifted, but most importantly can make every throw, can touch every blade of grass you need him to, both in and out of the pocket as the Seahawks kind of learned a year ago, playing us." —O’Connell on Darnold via Ari Horton of the team’s official website

Minnesota Vikings quarterback Sam Darnold drops back to pass against the Los Angeles Rams | Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images

The Minnesota head coach went on to remind fans that Darnold led the Vikings to a win over Seattle, saying the quarterback “willed the team to victory.”

Minnesota was happy with the performance of Darnold but wanted to stick with 2024 first-round pick J.J. McCarthy. We’ll have to wait to see if that was the right move, but according to O’Connell, it should work out for Seattle.

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