Mike Macdonald: 'Crazy' to ask if Sam Darnold will be Seahawks starting QB
The Seattle Seahawks are transitioning to a new starting quarterback in 2025 after three seasons under the leadership of Geno Smith.
Second-year coach Mike Macdonald gave Smith's replacement, Sam Darnold, a strong vote of confidence during a recent interview.
Macdonald was asked in a Tuesday appearance on Seattle Sports 710 AM whether there would be any way Darnold wouldn't end up being Seattle's Week 1 starter, barring injury.
"No, you guys are crazy," Macdonald replied. "I respect that you've got to ask it, but it's just a crazy question. It's just not going to happen. Sam's our starting quarterback. We love him. He's doing a tremendous job."
The Seahawks signed Darnold to a three-year, $100.5 million contract during the 2025 NFL offseason. The deal came on the heels of his career-best season, during which he led the Minnesota Vikings to a 14-3 record and completed 66.2% of his passes for 4,319 yards and 35 touchdowns with 12 interceptions.
Darnold's strong 2024 season and big-money contract made him the clear-cut No. 1 option on Seattle's quarterback depth chart, which was overhauled during the 2025 offseason. In addition to signing Darnold, the Seahawks traded Sam Howell to the Vikings, brought back Drew Lock after he spent the 2024 season with the New York Giants, and drafted Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe in the third round of the 2025 NFL Draft.
However, Darnold's up-and-down performance at an open-to-the-media OTA session prompted questions about whether Lock or Milroe could challenge him for the starting job.
Macdonald made it clear that won't happen and praised Darnold for making "a lot of great throws" and "gashing us on third-and-goal" during Monday's session.
The 37-year-old coach also intimated any mistakes made during Seattle's offseason workouts are part of the process of learning and preparing for the 2025 season.
"God forbid you're the worst player of all time because you made one bad throw or one bad decision," Macdonald said after bemoaning what he believes to be too-early assessments of Darnold and his team. "That is not what we're trying to build. We want these guys to go prepare the right way and then when they go out on the practice field, go freaking let it rip, and then we'll go fix it."
"We've got time," he added. "It's June 3. They're going to get plenty of reps. We'll get those things fixed."