Sam Darnold helped the Seattle Seahawks win a Super Bowl last season, but that spark seems missing this season. Former Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman has been vocal about the quarterback’s early struggles this season, and his latest appearance on television made that sentiment clearer.
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Before kickoff in the Denver Broncos game, Sherman was seen hugging other Seattle players, but seemed to ignore Darnold. Reflecting on that moment, the former cornerback said, “Sam Darnold got to earn a hug at this point,” via The Seattle Times’ Bob Condotta.
It hasn’t been smooth sailing for the Seattle quarterback this year. Through four games (he missed time because he was injured in the opener against the Patriots), Darnold has thrown for only 755 yards and seven touchdowns. The San Francisco 49ers restricted him to 195 yards, one touchdown, two interceptions, and sacked him five times.
At halftime against the Broncos, the Seahawks only scored three points.
Sherman had criticized Darnold previously, too.
“Sam Darnold just hasn’t looked comfortable in the pocket. I think he will shake it off and find some production today, but it’s been apparent early today and at times against the Chargers,” Sherman wrote on X.
Darnold had also struggled against the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 4, even though Seattle won 30–23.
“Just got to continue to trust myself, trust my feet, trust what I’m seeing, which I’m doing. But, yeah, just got to be better (at) taking care of the football,” Sam Darnold said after the loss to San Francisco.
The 49ers game marked the second time he threw more than one interception in a game so far this season. The fall in his ability to protect the ball, which was seen in the 2024 and 2025 seasons, has been drastic.
In both years, he threw 2.31 touchdowns per interception, above the NFL average of 2.11 over that span, according to TruMedia (via The Athletic). But this year, Darnold has already thrown a total of seven touchdowns against only five interceptions (before Week 6).
Sports Illustrated’s Brendon Nelson noted that Darnold has been known to throw interceptions. It is natural to him. But what bothers him is how different the QB looks mentality-wise.
“I understand interceptions. Sam Darnold has always thrown a lot of interceptions,” Nelson wrote. “Maybe some of the ones he’s thrown so far this year are egregious, but none of this should be unexpected. Nor is it an obstacle to him being a good, effective NFL quarterback. The thing that really bothers me is how he seems to lack confidence and composure on the field.”
Ahead of the Denver game, Darnold made clear that he understood the urgency surrounding the situation.
“For us, there’s a sense of urgency,” Darnold said. “That phrase, ‘sense of urgency,’ has been thrown around a lot the last couple of days, and it’s true. There needs to be a sense of urgency to get better and have ball security. I’m going to continue to be as decisive as I can be and go through my reads and trust what I see, trust my feet, all those things. Can’t have turnovers. You have to protect the football in this league. If you don’t, you’ll pay.”
Offensive coordinator Brian Fleury has also identified where the QB needs to work on to prevent those turnovers.
“It’s something that he identified right away coming off the field that we were able to talk about over the last 48 hours, and it’s relying more heavily on plays that we have a lot of experience with both through training camp, through the first couple weeks, that he’s comfortable making swift decisions and progressing through,” Fleury told the press on Tuesday. “So we’re going to lean more in that direction.”
We’ll have to wait and watch if Sam Darnold finds his mojo again this season.