How Sam Darnold is playing even better for Seahawks than he did with Vikings

"It's fun to be right." So said Al Pacino playing the role of Satan in 1997's The Devil's Advocate. You'll have to forgive us for indulging a similar feeling (vanity is his favorite sin) when it comes to Sam Darnold and how he's performed for the Seattle Seahawks so far.

After the Seahawks traded Geno Smith and replaced him with Darnold, our immediate reaction was that they scored the only upgrade at quarterback that would be available in the NFL this year, either in free agency or the draft. However, the vast majoirty of analysts disagreed with that take.

And so we spent the entire offseason defending Seattle's QB swap, even as practically every national outlet predicted a step back, both for the team in general and in the backfield. Through four games the early verdict is Darnold is just as good as he was in Minnesota, and in some ways even better.

Here's NFL insider Sheil Kapadia detailing the advanced stats that suggest Darnold is throwing the ball better with the Seahawks than he has at any time before in his career.

Sam Darnold better than ever

Through four games, 21% of the Seahawks' pass plays have produced an explosive completion. That's the highest rate in the NFL.

Based on EPA per pass play and success rate, Sam Darnold is performing better with the Seahawks than he did last year with the Vikings.
— Sheil Kapadia (@SheilKapadia) September 26, 2025

After three years of watching Geno Smith throw the hell out of the ball while not necessarily generating fantasy-friendly stats, Seahawks fans should know that traditional stats can be misleading.

On that score, Darnold's numbers so far are nothing special. He's thrown for five touchdowns, two interceptions, and a 70% completion rate. Good, but certainly not great.

In reality, Darnold has definitely been great - and some analysts have taken to gifting him the "elite" label that eluded him even last season when he was playing at a top-five level for most of the year.

Sam Darnold 'elite' throws

Sam Darnold is an elite QB pic.twitter.com/9q2aRM2CxB
— NFL Draft Files (@NFL_DF) September 26, 2025

These are high-level throws - and he's making several of them every game while making precious few mistakes and never pushing too hard.

It's a long season and a lot can go wrong over the course of 13 games - but for now it certainly appears that the Seahawks have landed on their franchise quarterack for the foreseeable future.

Sam Darnold better than ever

Sam Darnold 'elite' throws

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