SAN FRANCISCO — The Seahawks are set to play in their first Super Bowl in over 11 years on Sunday afternoon, and a lot of that has to do with the play of quarterback Sam Darnold.
After finishing the 2024 season 10–7 and missing the playoffs for a second consecutive year, Seattle set their sights on bigger and better at signal-caller, deciding to ship Geno Smith off to the Raiders for a third-round pick and replacing him with Darnold. They signed the then-27-year-old to a three-year, $100 million deal (with an out after season one), and he's thrived ever since. Throughout the course of the regular season, Darnold completed a career-high 67.7% of his passes for 4,048 yards, 25 touchdowns, and 14 interceptions while leading the Seahawks to a 14–3 record, the No. 1 seed in the NFC playoffs, and the aforementioned berth in Super Bowl LX.
