The Seahawks knew they couldn’t give QB Geno Smith the amount he was asking. So his switch to the Raiders opened doors for Sam Darnold to take over Seattle. With this, the team got a younger and more explosive signal-caller in Darnold, and they already had rookie Jalen Milroe, who could eventually take over in the future. So far, it looks like a win for the team, at least on paper, though fans are yet to see how much success this new connection proves to be on the field.

Some analysts would call his move a gamble, considering the QB has just one good season on his resume. He thrived with the Vikings’ HC Kevin O’Connell and great pass-catchers like Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison, and T.J. Hockenson, but has been average outside of this system. The Seahawks’ minicamp paints a different picture, though. Mike Macdonald seems to have created a more cohesive unit where his newly acquired quarterback can thrive alongside talents like Charles Cross and Abe Lucas. But what if we told you O’Connell was behind the scenes in the QB’s shift to the Seahawks?

Well, in a new interview with 3&OUT with John Middlekauff, Seahawks GM John Schneider was asked: “How did Sam Darnold end up as the starting quarterback for the Seattle Seahawks?” Schneider responded: “That period of time, around the Senior Bowl and Combine, is really like a preparation for what the landscape is going to look like… Kevin O’Connell, a professional friend of mine. 

“Yeah, you’re relying on our contacts, and like, the character, the leader, everybody that’s coached him over the years. Then watching his progression and watching him improve. It’s the same thing we did with Geno Smith… Like contacts over the years. Like talking about him, how he is improving, he is improving in this area, he is improving in that area. And then to put that on film to sit and study as a group.”

Seattle Seahawks, with John Schneider’s ear bent by Kevin O’Connell’s insights and OC Klint Kubiak’s existing trust from their 2024 Minnesota Vikings collaboration (and 2023 in San Francisco 49ers), saw not a reclamation project, but an ascending 28-year-old asset. It’s the NFL’s version of a trusted reference check, bypassing the noise. Schneider saw Darnold’s 2024 breakout–a 102.5 rating, 4,319 air yds, that 66.2% completion rate–not as a fluke, but as the culmination of grit honed through 73 career starts, 16,383 pass yds, and 98 TDs across turbulent stops in New York, Carolina, and the San Francisco 49ers.

After the Vikings gave up on Sam Darnold…

Just months after Darnold authored a career-defining symphony in Minnesota Vikings – lighting up scoreboards for 4,319 yds and 35 TDs, earning his first Pro Bowl nod and piloting the Vikes to a stellar 14-3 record–an abysmal playoff game and JJ McCarthy’s return from injury signaled the end.

But Darnold wasn’t just a placeholder; he was the guy who shattered franchise records – highest single-game passer rating (157.9) and most 100+ rating games in a season (13). He’s also the youngest QB ever to notch a 110+ rating in the NFL (at 21 yrs, 97 days) since 1970 and the first to record 14 wins with a team in his first season. He delivered iconic moments: Silencing the Chicago Bears in OT, launching a breathtaking 97-yd missile to Justin Jefferson, and that cathartic, towel-waving eruption on the bench amid ‘MVP!’ chants after a 5-TD demolition of the Atlanta Falcons.

So for Schneider, it was about trusting the whispers from respected peers like Kevin O’Connell about Sam Darnold’s character and growth. It was about Klint Kubiak’s intimate knowledge of how to utilize Darnold’s skills within his offensive scheme. And the GM hopes that the QB’s Minnesota Vikings year wasn’t an anomaly, but the emergence of a true field general. What do you think?