The Seahawks surprisingly agreed to trade starting QB Geno Smith to the Raiders on Friday for a third-round pick, which leaves them with an obvious hole at quarterback.
Tom Pelissero of NFL Media mentions that the Seahawks are now expected to explore veteran quarterback options in an attempt to replace Smith with “Sam Darnold viewed by league sources as a leading contender.”
Dianna Russini reports that the Seahawks are, in fact, targeting Darnold as their next quarterback.
Darnold, 27, is a former first-round pick of the Jets back in 2018. He was in the final year of a four-year, $30.370 million rookie contract when he was traded to the Panthers.
Carolina exercised Darnold’s fifth-year option for 2022 after acquiring him from New York. He made a base salary of $18.858 million in 2022 under the option.
Darnold was an unrestricted free agent for the first time in his career when he signed a one-year, $4.5 million deal with the 49ers in 2023. He joined the Vikings this past offseason on another one-year deal.
In 2024, Darnold appeared in all 17 games for the Vikings and completed 66.2 percent of his pass attempts for 4,319 yards, 35 touchdowns, and 12 interceptions. He added 67 carries for 212 yards and a touchdown.
We’ll have more on Darnold as the news becomes available.
We have him included in our Top 100 – 2025 Free Agents list.
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