Sam Darnold Acclimating to Seahawks’ New Receivers in Familiar, Yet Different Scheme
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="2306"]
Sam Darnold (14), Marquez Valdes-Scantling (1), and Cooper Kupp (10) warm up prior to the start of the Seattle Seahawks OTA practice on June 4. Credit: Corbin Smith/Emerald City Spectrum [/caption]
RENTON, Wash. - Unlike most quarterbacks who change teams in the NFL as free agents or via trade, Sam Darnold isn’t starting his tenure with the Seattle Seahawks completely from scratch. In fact, it’s easy to make the argument he’s well ahead of the curve in early June.
Just two seasons ago, while serving as a backup behind Brock Purdy with the 49ers in what proved to be an invaluable reset year for the former top-10 pick, Darnold learned a great deal from then-pass game coordinator Klint Kubiak, who already was well-versed in the Mike Shanahan-style offense. Those lessons played an integral role in a breakthrough season with the Vikings in 2024, as he set career-highs with 35 touchdown passes and 4,319 passing yards after replacing injured rookie J.J. McCarthy to guide the franchise to a 14-3 record and a playoff berth, setting himself up for a lucrative three-year, $100.5 million contract from the Seahawks in March.
Providing a key reason for wanting to play in Seattle to begin with, Darnold has been reunited with Kubiak, who arrived as the successor to former play caller Ryan Grubb this spring. While he has had to absorb plenty of “new” verbiage in a scheme that isn’t necessarily a carbon copy to the offenses he ran in San Francisco or Minnesota, there’s been more than enough carry over to help ease the transition to the Pacific Northwest so far.
“It's fun to learn new systems. I think at the end of the day, a lot of teams do some similar things but just call it different names,” Darnold told reporters after Seattle’s second open OTA practice on June 4. “I think that's the part that you've got to learn is learning how Klint [Kubiak] calls it and what we're calling it in general and learning the terminology and all of the things that come along with that."
Having bounced around the league with stops in New York and Carolina prior to his brief stints in San Francisco and Minnesota, for better or worse, Darnold brings extensive experience learning new offenses with him to Seattle. In three years with the Jets, he had two different offensive coordinators, and in just two years with the Panthers, he had three different play callers, including former Giants head coach Ben McAdoo in 2022.
All of that turnover certainly didn’t help Darnold’s progression in his first five seasons, as he completed under 60 percent of his passes in four of those five campaigns with 61 touchdowns and 55 interceptions during that span. Posting a 21-34 record in New York and Carolina, he didn’t have much of a market in terms of suitors heading into free agency in 2023, leading to his decision to sign with San Francisco.
But while some would question such a decision, joining the 49ers wound up being the best thing that could have happened to Darnold. After being forced into a starting role on a bad team with the Jets to kick off his career, spending time on the sidelines soaking up as many details as he could watching Purdy and talking ball with Kubiak proved to be incredibly beneficial, restoring his confidence and setting the stage for the best year of his career when opportunity came knocking with the Vikings a year ago.
"You see the tape, the tape tells it all,” Kubiak said of Darnold’s improvement over the past two years. “He grew a lot. He took an opportunity there [in Minnesota] and ran with it, and he's been doing a great job for us here. He's studying, he's teaching the young guys, helping me get the system taught.”
With Darnold quite comfortable with Kubiak’s offense from their previous ties working together, the process of building a rapport with his new collection of receivers also appears to be ahead of schedule, particularly with veteran free agent signing Cooper Kupp, a former Triple Crown winner and Offensive Player of the Year in 2021.
Back healthy after battling injuries in his final three years with the Rams, Kupp has been rejuvenated returning to his home state where he previously starred at Davis High School in Yakima and Eastern Washington, arriving at the team’s offseason program in outstanding shape. Like Darnold, he has played in a scheme with many principles and elements deriving from Shanahan’s offense under Sean McVay in Los Angeles, which has allowed him to not only acclimate swiftly, but take on the role of a coach on the field helping younger players get up to speed in OTAs.
Taking notice on and off the field, Kubiak hasn’t been surprised to see a respected veteran with the accolades Kupp has on his resume make an immediate impact on new teammates and coaches alike, especially with his previous success in McVay’s offense that has some notable similarities.
As for Darnold’s chemistry with Kupp, the two hooked up frequently during three open practices, starting with the quarterback’s first throw from scrimmage in a team drill on Monday landing in the reliable receiver’s hands in the end zone on a seam route for six points. In the three practices, between 7-on-7 and 11-on-11 sessions, they linked up for a quartet of touchdowns, showing they have already established a strong connection with ample room to grow heading towards training camp.
"I think with any receiver, it's getting to know the body language, how they're running routes, and then being able to talk to him on and off the field,” Darnold remarked. “Be able to know what he's thinking, in a route or versus a certain coverage. Trying to get behind the linebacker or maybe he's going to throttle it down. Just little details like that. It's been great not only to talk to Coop about that kind of stuff but all of the guys."
As Darnold hinted, his relationship with Kupp isn’t the only one exhibiting positive early returns as Seattle’s retooled passing game takes shape. Third-year receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba, the lone holdover from the former trifecta that included DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett who eclipsed 1,000 yards for the first time in 2024, caught fire in the final two OTA practices catching passes from his new quarterback, including a fantastic one-handed grab on a crossing route and a touchdown with full extension tip-toeing along the back of the end zone.
Like Smith-Njigba, Jake Bobo returns for his third season and the former undrafted success story has been a regular target for Darnold and backup Drew Lock as well, catching multiple touchdowns and making a highlight reel-worthy one-handed catch in Thursday’s final OTA session. The entire quarterback room seems to have the reliable, big-bodied target on speed dial, more than confident to throw the ball his direction any given pass play.
Additionally, eighth-year veteran Marquez Valdes-Scantling, who also signed with the Seahawks as a free agent, found himself on the receiving end of multiple touchdown receptions from Darnold during the three open OTAs. Known for his speed and ability to generate chunk plays downfield, one of those scores came on a deep corner route that the quarterback dropped right into the bucket for him to haul in at the back righthand corner of the end zone, beating solid coverage on the outside.
Though Valdes-Scantling’s arrival hasn’t generated the same fanfare as Kupp coming back to Washington and has historically been more of a feast-or-famine target over the years, Kubiak saw first-hand what the electric playmaker could do in his offense after joining the Saints midway through the 2024 season. In just nine games in New Orleans, he caught 17 passes for 385 yards and four touchdowns, averaging north of 22 yards per reception while seeing significant snaps both on the boundary and in the slot.
For a full season, Valdes-Scantling would have approached 800 receiving yards and double-digit touchdowns. If he can even come within striking distance of that with the Seahawks over 17 games, that would be a major boon for the team as they try to replace Metcalf and Lockett’s lost production.
"I just saw a really intelligent guy that could play all the spots and make plays,” Kubiak said of his time with Valdes-Scantling and what he brings to Seattle’s receiving corps. “Came to us in the middle of the season, learned a new system, and just really impressed with his intellect and type of teammate that he was. He's picked up right where he left off."
Between the aforementioned veteran receivers, rookies Tory Horton and Ricky White III, and a balanced tight end group headlined by Noah Fant and A.J. Barner, even without Metcalf and Lockett, Darnold should have a strong supporting cast to build Seattle’s aerial attack around him with. And, in contrast to the past couple of years where the team relied far too much on beating teams with a pass-heavy approach, either by design or due to poor blocking up front, Kubiak intends to take some of the burden off of his quarterback and pass catchers by re-committing to the run game, leaning on a fun stable of backs in Ken Walker III, Zach Charbonnet, Kenny McIntosh, and seventh-round pick Damien Martinez.
If the offensive line takes a significant step forward under the tutelage of coach John Benton, who came to Seattle as part of a package with Kubiak after they coached together in New Orleans, and the run game improves as envisioned, Kubiak hopes Darnold won’t have to replicate his gaudy passing numbers that he hit with the Vikings last season for the Seahawks to improve from their 10-win total. As the quarterback pointed out, that development would also open up the play action game, including roll outs and bootlegs that play to his athletic strengths moving the pocket, creating a far more balanced offense for opponents to deal with.
Regardless of how well the run game performs in Kubiak’s system, however, Seattle will ultimately go as far as Darnold can lead the team. To maximize on his first season with the franchise, continuing to build a connection with all of his receivers, especially mainstays in Smith-Njigba and Kupp, will be crucial to his success living up to a new contract as well as the Seahawks chances of returning to the upper echelon in the NFC.
