As the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Seahawks celebrate 50 years in the league together by facing off Sunday, both have a more immediate reason to celebrate: They have found their next franchise quarterbacks and those guys have them on track to make the playoffs.
This contest, while big in the early NFC playoff picture, is also a lesson in the NFL’s general inability to coach talented quarterbacks into productive ones.
Baker Mayfield and Sam Darnold were the No. 1 and 3 overall picks in the 2018 draft, and both were completely unsupported by their first, failing franchises. They were teammates on another bad club for a few games after being traded from their original teams and then finally found places where they could grow into the franchise passers they are today – both secure as the offensive leaders in Tampa and Seattle.
They were victims of the NFL’s ongoing struggle to develop quarterbacks – especially in a system that sends top college passers to the worst teams.
Tom Brady recently talked about how he became the best QB to ever play – he sought all angles of coaching and football intel he could find to gain an edge on Sundays. That is what turned the former sixth-round pick into a seven-time Super Bowl winner.
The lesson there: It is incumbent on quarterbacks to be their own best advocates, to take it upon themselves to learn as much as they can from every source they can find – and to not let bad franchises ruin them.
Brady was fortunate in that he joined a team that was almost Super Bowl ready (he replaced Drew Bledsoe in his second season and led the Patriots to the first title in their dynasty era). Russell Wilson, a third-round pick by Seattle in 2012, also joined a team primed for contention and also won the Super Bowl in his second season.
Mayfield and Darnold did not have that luxury, drafted by the worst teams in the NFL in 2018 and also spending a brief time together in Carolina, which had fallen far from its Super Bowl contending days under Ron Rivera.
Scott Fitterer, one of John Schneider’s longtime lieutenants, had been a part of the Seahawks supporting Wilson with a great defense and running game. But Fitterer was unable to replicate that in Carolina when he became the general manager in 2021. He traded for Darnold, then added Mayfield in 2022, and he and his handpicked coaches were unable to develop either one into the Panthers’ long-term starter.
Cooper Kupp has played with both Mayfield and Darnold now, and he also saw Jared Goff (the No. 1 pick in 2016) traded away from the Rams for Matthew Stafford.
“Yeah, I could give you a dissertation on what I think about the whole quarterback position,” Kupp said. “In short, I do think the plugs get pulled on guys a little early. And you’ve got to give guys the ability to learn … and truly give guys the freedom to make mistakes.
“I think the best quarterbacks in this league have been in positions early on where they can grow into that and make those mistakes behind the scenes, or they’re given a position to go out there and learn and let it fly. … I think those guys flourish if you just let them get to that place.”
It took a few years for Mayfield and Darnold to get to their places.
After bouncing from Cleveland to Carolina to the Rams, Mayfield replaced Brady in Tampa in 2023. Despite his rocky first five seasons, he had not lost his fire nor his playmaking ability – and the Bucs, led by GM Jason Licht and coach Todd Bowles, embraced him.
He has led them to the playoffs in both of his seasons so far, leading the NFL with 69 touchdown passes in that span.
“They’ve built a great culture here from the top down,” Mayfield said ahead of this season. “That’s what matters, and that’s what’s allowed me to step in and hit the ground running.”
Darnold can testify to the importance of culture as well. He spent his first five years with two of the worst franchises in the NFL, the Jets and Carolina. Then he was able to pick his own path and went to be coached up by two of the best, San Francisco’s Kyle Shanahan in 2023 and Minnesota’s Kevin O’Connell in 2024. And that landed him in Seattle under a $100 million deal that is very similar to the one Mayfield signed with Tampa in 2024.
Mayfield locked in as the Bucs’ franchise QB in 2023 and Darnold, based on his stellar play through four games, has now cemented himself as Seattle’s franchise QB for the rest of this decade as well.
Darnold is playing like one of the best QBs in the league, and all of the doubters have disappeared. No one with any credibility is claiming any longer that Geno Smith is better than him. Jalen Milroe fans in Seattle are no longer predicting that Darnold will be bumped by the rookie. Darnold has proved that his 2024 season with Minnesota was not a fluke – and he seemingly has taken a step beyond that excellence (see his early accolades below).
“Sam and I are really close,” Mayfield said this week. “I’m happy for him — from going a couple different places that weren’t great for us to having a good opportunity elsewhere, it’s fun to see. I knew he just needed that chance, and he’s thriving now.”
Darnold is excelling while Seattle’s last two QBs are struggling. Smith has thrown a league-high seven interceptions for Pete Carroll’s Raiders, and Wilson’s time as an NFL starter has come to an end now that he has been replaced by rookie Jaxson Dart in New York.
Like Wilson in 2012, Darnold has stepped into a team that has an elite defense. Those elements have them off to a 3-1 start and poised for a great season – potentially challenging for the Super Bowl.
The Hawks can take another quality step in that direction if Darnold outplays Mayfield, his fellow 2018 draft star and one-time teammate, and Seattle beats a good (if battered) Bucs team in the battle of 50-year-old franchises on Sunday.
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I never got either the Geno love or the Geno hate—in ten years he’ll be as relevant as Jake DelHomme is today. On the other hand, there’s every chance that Sam Darnold will be wrapping up a distinguished career that will land him in the Ring of Honor. Should he fall short of that, the Seahawks still wouldn’t have risked much by moving on from Geno Smith.
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