Ahead of the Super Bowl matchup between the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks, President Donald Trump arrived in Palm Beach County for the weekend. Before boarding his flight, though, he fielded a handful of questions. One of them, unsurprisingly, centered on the Super Bowl and which team he was backing. Trump declined to pick a side. But even without choosing a winner, he didn’t hold back when talking about the two quarterbacks set to make their first Super Bowl starts.

“I can’t say that. But they are really two good teams,” Trump said when asked about his Super Bowl pick. “They’re very interesting because you had one quarterback who looked like he wasn’t gonna make it, and he made it. And then you have another one who’s young, and they probably wish they played him last year, right? But you have two great teams…I think it’s gonna be a great game. There’s a lot of interesting storylines.”

Trump won’t be at Levi’s Stadium for the game. Still, the President has been vocal in the past about his Super Bowl opinions, especially when quarterbacks are involved. And it’s easy to see why this matchup stands out. Both signal-callers arrive with their own arcs, and for Sam Darnold, the moment carries extra weight.

Back when the New York Jets selected him in the first round of the 2018 NFL Draft, Darnold likely envisioned this stage. Instead, his early career was marked by inconsistency, injuries, and constant coaching turnover. A stop with the Carolina Panthers followed, but the same questions lingered. It wasn’t until his time with the San Francisco 49ers that things shifted.

Serving as Brock Purdy’s backup, Darnold watched from the sidelines and made his first Super Bowl appearance without starting, seeing the Niners fall short of the Lombardi Trophy. And now, after a career-defining stint with the Minnesota Vikings, Darnold landed in Seattle and delivered.

At 28, he guided the Seahawks to a 14–3 record, the No. 1 NFC seed, and a dominant regular season, throwing for 4,048 yards and 25 touchdowns. Then came January. Two games, 470 yards, four touchdowns, and a Super Bowl berth, all while battling questions about whether he’s Super Bowl-bound or not. In the process, Darnold became the first quarterback from the 2018 draft class to start the big game. One hurdle after another, and this time, it all paid off.

Drake Maye’s path hasn’t been all that different. His rookie season under Jerod Mayo was rough. However, New England stayed patient, and under Mike Vrabel, the second-year quarterback took off. The Patriots went from 4–13 to 14–3, powered by Maye’s breakout year. He finished the 2025 regular season with 4,394 passing yards, 31 touchdowns, and just eight interceptions, falling one vote shy of winning his first MVP.

“They made a fantastic draft pick, the quarterback is great,” Donald Trump had already clarified his stance on Maye a week earlier.

Now, Darnold and Maye meet on February 8 at Levi’s Stadium. Seattle enters as the betting favorite, riding months of dominant football. New England, meanwhile, brings momentum of its own, anchored by a defense that’s been suffocating over the past three weeks. Trump may have avoided picking a side. But as he put it himself, all signs point to one thing: it’s going to be a great game.

Donald Trump arrived at Palm Beach for the weekend

Unlike last year, when Donald Trump attended Super Bowl 59 between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs, the President won’t be present for the big game this time around. Asked about his absence, Trump pointed to distance as the primary reason he opted to watch the Patriots–Seahawks matchup from afar.

“It’s just too far away,” he said last month. “I would. I’ve [gotten] great hands [at] the Super Bowl. They like me. I would go if, you know, it was a little bit shorter.”

Fast forward to now, with kickoff just hours away, reports indicate Trump has already headed to Palm Beach. He arrived in the county around 9 p.m. on Friday. As has become tradition, Donald and Melania Trump are expected to host their annual Super Bowl watch party at Trump International Golf Club in unincorporated West Palm Beach, Florida, just a few miles from Mar-a-Lago.

The President hosts a Super Bowl watch party every year. Last season was the exception, with Trump attending the game in New Orleans. This year, though, the tradition is back on, just from a familiar home base. And while he won’t be inside the stadium this time, Trump will still have his eyes on the game. From Palm Beach, the storylines remain just as compelling.