Tag Archives: Sam Darnold

Vegas has no clue on the Seahawks, who will win at least 11

May 30, 2025 cc 1 Comment

While we were enjoying a much-deserved getaway to Cabo, the NFL schedule came out and Vegas decided the Seahawks are going to win just seven games next season. What that means is there is a lot of money to be won by going against the oddsmakers right now – because there is no way the Hawks are going to be under double digits in wins.

Vegas had already released the over/under at 7.5 wins. Then the odds men added game spreads once the schedule was released, and those added up to seven wins, which would be the under. We’d bet big money on the over – the easiest money you might ever find in Vegas.

We project at least 11 wins from a team with a top-five defense, a pro offense with a veteran staff and skill players, and a softer schedule than the one that produced 10 wins in 2024.

Let’s take a look at the schedule and explain why Vegas is gonna get its ass kicked on pro-Seattle bets.

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NFL draft, The roster

With Darnold and Milroe, QB room is most exciting since 2001

April 28, 2025 cc Leave a comment

The Seahawks have put together the most interesting quarterback room since Matt Hasselbeck and Super Bowl-winning QB Trent Dilfer came along in 2001.

Back then, Mike Holmgren – then in his third year – added Hasselbeck and Dilfer to replace Jon Kitna and Brock Huard. Hasselbeck came in a trade with Green Bay and Dilfer came from Baltimore after stepping in as the starting QB there and winning the Super Bowl the previous year. It took a year or so for Hasselbeck to fully claim the job over Dilfer, but then the Hawks went on a five-year run of playoff seasons that included their own Super Bowl appearance (and controversial loss).

Pete Carroll and John Schneider also cleaned house at the position in 2012, when Russell Wilson and Matt Flynn replaced Tarvaris Jackson and Charlie Whitehurst. Wilson won the job as a rookie and went on to become the best QB in franchise history, overtaking Hasselbeck for that honor, while leading the Hawks to their only Super Bowl title and another Super Bowl that should have been a win.

Now the Seahawks have wiped the slate clean again, with the hope that it will lead to more Super Bowl wins under Mike Macdonald, now in his second season.

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Coaches, Contracts, Trades

Carroll’s return was Geno’s out as he felt ‘disconnect’ in Seattle

April 8, 2025 cc Leave a comment

Without saying it out loud, Geno Smith basically confirmed what we always thought: Pete Carroll’s return to the NFL precipitated Smith’s departure from Seattle.

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again (along with ESPN’s Brady Henderson): We think Smith very likely would still be in Seattle (under a new deal) if Carroll had not been hired by the Las Vegas Raiders.

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Contracts, Free agency

Hawks saved $30M in 2025 swapping out QB and receivers

March 27, 2025 cc 2 Comments

Ever since the Seahawks
essentially swapped Geno Smith, DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett for Sam Darnold, Cooper Kupp and Marques Valdes-Scantling, plus a couple of Day 2 picks, fans have debated whether the Hawks made a good aggregate deal.

Now that we have numbers on all of Seattle’s contracts, we can compare the money (pending Smith’s new deal with the Raiders).

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Free agency, The roster

After a week of free agency, a look at the roster

March 16, 2025 cc 3 Comments

John Schneider’s Seahawks had a stunning first week of free agency, unexpectedly trading both Geno Smith and DK Metcalf and then quickly replacing Smith with Sam Darnold.

They also re-signed two big pieces of their defense, Ernest Jones IV and Jarran Reed. And they brought in Marquez Valdes-Scantling and Cooper Kupp to help replace Metcalf and the released Tyler Lockett. DeMarcus Lawrence was added to beef up their front seven (especially in the run game).

They bid big ($17 million a year) but missed out on the top free-agent guard, Will Fries. But they still might end up with one of the top guards; Teven Jenkins (Chicago) is due in for a visit to the VMAC on Monday.

After a week of free agency, the defense – already on schedule to be a top-five unit in 2025 — is a bit better, and the offense is still rebuilding after the surprising mini-teardown.

Let’s take a look at the roster.

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Coaches, Free agency, X's & O's

Macdonald, Kubiak are building an offense that can hit the ground running

March 15, 2025 cc 3 Comments

Mike Macdonald intends to win playoff games in 2025 – and he has a pretty clever plan for making sure it happens.

It’s called familiarity. He is returning nearly his entire 10^th-ranked defense from 2024 (and making it better), and he his putting together an offense that he expects to literally hit the ground running.

It started with bringing in a veteran offensive staff full of guys who had worked together before. Macdonald knew Klint Kubiak would bring run game coordinator Rick Dennison, offensive line coach John Benton and quarterbacks coach Andrew Janocko. All have worked with him in the past.

Then, when free agency began this week, Kubiak was key in the Seahawks recruiting both Sam Darnold and Marquez Valdes-Scantling – who both know Kubiak and the offense.

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Coaches, Free agency, The roster

Kubiak ties to Darnold & MVS countered losses of Geno & Metcalf

March 13, 2025 cc Leave a comment

Relationships make the NFL go round – and that was never more obvious than in all of the Seahawks’ dealings over the past week.

The franchise’s relationship with DK Metcalf soured to the point that he simply wanted to go play elsewhere. John Schneider said he could not work it out with Metcalf, so he traded him to Pittsburgh.

Then Geno Smith forced a trade when he and his agent refused to respond to Seattle’s fair contract offer – $40 million in 2025, per Brady Henderson. Whether Smith intended it or not, he got a reunion with his favorite coach, Pete Carroll, back in the NFL with the Raiders.

That might have left the Seahawks in a bind if not for Mike Macdonald’s preemptive move to hire Klint Kubiak as offensive coordinator. Kubiak’s previous relationship with Sam Darnold made it easy for the Hawks to quickly replace Smith with Darnold.

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Free agency, On the air

Hasselbeck: If Darnold finds ‘clutch gene,’ he can be a franchise QB

March 13, 2025 cc 1 Comment

The big question about new Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold is very simple: Will he
continue to play like he did in Minnesota last season?

Matt Hasselbeck and others are confident he will.

Darnold struggled early in his career because he had really bad coaching with the Jets and Panthers. To his credit, he got out of that cycle and intentionally took a step back so he could learn how to play quarterback in the NFL.

Now he just needs to find that “clutch gene” to become Seattle’s franchise quarterback, Hasselbeck said.

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Free agency, The roster

Free agency Day 2: Vikings strike back

March 11, 2025 cc 2 Comments

The disappointment continues for Seahawks fans who hold out hope every year that John Schneider will pay for a quality offensive lineman or two.

While Schneider did well to quickly sign Sam Darnold on Monday, he has yet to find a starting left guard — and the best options are dwindling.

In a small twist of irony that Darnold is probably chuckling over after he endured so much pressure in the playoff loss to the Rams, the Vikings actually have signed two linemen that Seahawks fans were hoping Schneider would get: center Ryan Kelly and guard Will Fries.

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Contracts, Free agency

Free agency Day 1: Hawks get a good deal on Darnold

March 10, 2025 cc Leave a comment

As expected, the Seahawks quickly agreed to a deal with Sam Darnold.

It was reported as $100.5 million over three years, with $37.5 million in Year 1 and $55 million total guaranteed. So essentially that is a two-year deal worth $55 million — $27.5 million a year. And then they will revisit in 2027.

If he continues to ascend his play under Klint Kubiak, he will merit a new deal. Otherwise, the Hawks set it up as a two-year trial — with many thinking (hoping) they will draft a QB this year or next.

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