Seattle Seahawks Training Camp: New QB Sam Darnold, Elijah Arroyo Breakout Season

The Seattle Seahawks enter 2025 training camp with major offensive changes, including Sam Darnold at quarterback, Cooper Kupp at wide receiver, and breakout potential from rookie tight end Elijah Arroyo.

Seattle Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold (14) passes the ball during mini-camp at Virginia Mason Athletic Center. | Stephen Brashear-Imagn Images

The Seattle Seahawks have seen a lot of change to their offense this offseason. They moved on from star wide receiver DK Metcalf, cut tight end Noah Fant, and Sam Darnold is the new quarterback. Now we have to see how it all comes together in Seattle. These are the storylines to watch at Seahawks training camp.

1. Is Sam Darnold An Upgrade Over Geno Smith?

Darnold has, for the most part, been a terrible NFL quarterback; however, he was pretty decent last season with the Minnesota Vikings. A lot of that is chalked up to their offensive system that tends to make any quarterback look at the very least serviceable. On the other hand, his struggles mostly came with the New York Jets. 

It's hard to hold any quarterback accountable for how they perform with that dumpster fire of a franchise. We just saw Geno Smith go to Seattle and play significantly better. The hope is that Darnold is closer to the QB he was in Minnesota than he was in New York. That is an answer we hope to get a hint at this summer.   

2. Kenneth Walker’s Workload

Kenneth Walker III is the lead back in Seattle, but injuries have hampered him throughout his career, and he's already dealing with an ankle injury now. They have a more than serviceable backup in Zach Charbonnet and drafted a talented rookie in Damien Martinez. With Walker III's contract up after this year, the team is very likely to move on from him after the season. There are two ways a team can handle that situation. Either run him into the ground or begin to transition to their future backs. We hope to get a glimpse at what the Seahawks want to do in this case at training camp. A heavy workload for Walker III may also be trouble for the oft-injured running back. This is a situation to watch closely.     

Kenneth Walker lol pic.twitter.com/w1VqoCl34Y

— Ian Hartitz (@Ihartitz) June 18, 2025

3. New WR2 Cooper Kupp, Elijah Arroyo Breakout Season

The team traded DK Metcalf this offseason and let Tyler Lockett walk in free agency. They decided to sign Cooper Kupp and Marquez Valdez-Scantling to put outside of Jaxon Smith-Njigba and drafted talented rookie Tory Horton. This is a depth chart we have to see play out over the summer. We know JSN is locked in and would be surprised if Kupp wasn't the WR2, but there is plenty of room for young receivers to earn snaps after that. 

Seattle also cut starting tight end Noah Fant after drafting Elijah Arroyo in the second round of the 2025 NFL Draft. He is now locked in as the lead pass-catching tight end and could be the next breakout rookie at the position this season.