Sam Darnold Is 60 Minutes Away From Erasing His Past

Sam Darnold was viewed as a complete bust by age 25.

In the spring of 2023, nobody wanted to bring Darnold in to be their starting quarterback so he took a backup gig with the San Francisco 49ers.

Darnold, the third overall pick of the 2018 NFL Draft, spent the campaign backing up Brock Purdy, the final pick of the 2022 draft.

That’s not how the career of a high draft pick is supposed to go.

Darnold, who once famously said he was “seeing ghosts” turning a horrific nationally televised performance, was becoming invisible.

But come Sunday, Darnold will be more visible than ever when he leads the Seattle Seahawks into Super Bowl LX against the New England Patriots at Santa Clara, Calif.

He’s just 60 football minutes away – or more if the game goes into overtime – of perhaps being known forever as a Super Bowl-winning quarterback. He could even be named the game’s MVP.

At least Darnold is back on the track after badly derailing his career.

Darnold was supposed to be the savior of the Jets but he completed just 59.8% of his passes through three rocky seasons. He passed for 45 touchdowns against 39 interceptions.

He was traded to the Carolina Panthers following the 2020 campaign and he continued to struggle and had 16 touchdowns and 16 interceptions over two lackluster seasons.

Then it was off to the 49ers and it looked like journeyman duty for the long haul.

But after getting a chance to be an observer and soaking it the atmosphere, Darnold was ready for another chance. He had worked hard on his mental game – something he admitted to struggling with – and was refreshed when he joined the Minnesota Vikings.

He enjoyed a big 2024 season with Minnesota – setting career highs of 4,319 passing yards and 35 touchdowns – and led the Vikings to a 14-3 record.

The Vikings badly erred by not re-signing Darnold and he landed a three-year, $100.5 million free-agent contract with the Seahawks

He came through with a second straight stellar season with 4,048 yards and 25 touchdowns while leading Seattle to a 14-3 regular-season record and two playoff victories.

“Sam’s just been so resilient,” Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald said. “… He’s so steadfast in his approach, he’s confident in who he is. He understands how much his team believes in him and has his back.”

Now 28, Darnold is the more experienced quarterback in this game as Patriots star Drake Maye is in his second NFL season.

Darnold has been a cool customer the past two seasons but everyone will be paying attention to see if he can deliver in his biggest moment.

What’s become clear is that Darnold has simplified his approach and that has led to less miscues and fewer times beating himself up.

“As a young player, early on in my career, I was really hard on myself,” Darnold said. “After a bad rep or a bad practice, I would let it affect my attitude a little bit. Just being able to have a great attitude all the time, ‘All right, that happens, it’s football, we’re not always going to be perfect.'”

Both teams have strong defenses so the quarterback who makes the biggest mistake could cost his team the game on Sunday.

Maye, 23, completed a league-best 72% of his passes and was intercepted just eight times while being a close runner-up for MVP honors behind Matthew Stafford of the Los Angeles Rams.

Darnold completed 67.7% of his throws and was picked off 14 times. And he never saw ghosts like he did in the humbling four-interception, 33-0 loss to the Patriots in 2019.

“I almost forgot about it, so thanks,” Darnold said when reminded by a reporter this week.

Darnold can erase nearly all his bad memories just by winning on Sunday.