Where's the Respect? Seahawks QB Sam Darnold Deserves Better Than Constantly Moving the Goalposts

It’s human nature. Sometimes, we make a decision early on about something and can be virtually immovable in that opinion regardless of which direction the winds of change blow, or how hard. It’s called pride. We all have it. We are slow to admit we are wrong and look for any shred of evidence to prove our premature declarations correct, folly or not.

When the Seattle Seahawks signed Sam Darnold last offseason, he still had the stink of a disappointing first six seasons on him. That was even after a breakout 2024 with the Minnesota Vikings that saw him at the helm of a 14-3 football team when he produced just over 4,300 passing yards and 35 touchdowns. Pundits quickly discredited that redemption arc after a clunker of a playoff game, when the Vikings lost to the Rams 27-9 in the NFC Wild Card Round. Darnold threw one interception, lost a fumble, and was sacked nine times. That was the last time we saw Darnold before signing with Seattle and the media did not forgive him.

‍Fast forward 12 months from then. Darnold doubled down with yet another 14-3 regular season paired with another 4,000-yard season with 25 passing scores. The national media waved it off as another mirage in the vast Darnold Desert. Then the playoffs started. Even with just 12 completions and 124 passing yards in the Divisional Round against the 49ers, he was efficient and mistake-free with zero turnover-worthy plays. Still, many claimed, “the defense carried him!” or “Ken Walker did all the work!”

‍“Just wait for the NFC Championship Game against the presumed MVP Matthew Stafford,” they shouted in mass on social media.

Then Darnold’s second passing attempt of the semifinal rematch against the NFC West rival went for 51 yards downfield to Rashid Shaheed. Over the course of the game, he matched Stafford blow-for-blow. Stafford finished with 374 passing yards and three touchdowns, for a 127.6 passer rating. Darnold matched him with 346 yards, three scores, and a 127.8 rating, slightly better in a phenonemal quarterback duel. He had just one turnover-worthy play compared to Stafford’s two turnover-worthy plays. Darnold’s 73.5 adjusted completion percentage outpaced Stafford’s 67.6 mark. If you split hairs, you could say Darnold even outplayed the league MVP on the sports biggest stage to that point. Certainly, that was the biggest game of Darnold’s life and he delivered emphatically.

The Super Bowl was similar to their matchup with the 49ers, with the ground game and defense squeezing the life out of the Patriots. Still, Darnold did his job, nothing more, nothing less, throwing for 202 yards and one touchdown with zero turnovers. The USC product became the first Trojan signal caller to win a Super Bowl and first starting quarterback in NFL history to win the Super Bowl without committing a single turnover during the entire postseason. The last images we saw of Darnold before the dark offseason were him hoisting the Lombardi Trophy amid confetti and then celebrating with Seattle at the parade.

‍Now, with a Super Bowl ring fresh on his finger after a historic run through the playoffs, there are still doubters. Somehow, some way, there are pundits who still do not believe. Neither ESPN, The Ringer,The Rich Eisen Show, nor Pro Football Focus rank him inside the top 10 in their latest rankings. This, despite finishing fifth in the NFL in passing yards each of the last two seasons and winning a whopping 31 games in that span, more than any other quarterback.

Pro Football Focus even had him as the fourth-most clutch quarterback in the NFL last season. The fact that the words “clutch” and “Sam Darnold” appear so close together might melt the brains of some pundits. But facts are facts. It seems like the only major media personality who is coming to bat for Darnold as a top 10 quarterback is a native Pacific Northwesterner in Colin Cowherd.

"Where's Sam Darnold? Even the GMs in this league don't know what the hell to do with Sam Darnold. Since 2022 he has the highest win percentage of any QB in the league!"@colincowherd on Darnold being snubbed on another top 10 QB list pic.twitter.com/W4BDGGBiW1— Herd w/Colin Cowherd (@TheHerd) July 13, 2026

As the saying goes “when someone shows you who they really are, believe them.” Sam Darnold is 31-6 in the last two seasons and a Super Bowl champion. If we are simply looking at those facts, Darnold showed us he is a winner and one of the most efficient and reliable quarterbacks in the NFL right now.

First, it was “Darnold is a huge first round bust.” Then he started winning with Minnesota, which turned the narrative into “that was a one-off, he won’t repeat that success.” He signed with Seattle and many thought, “he will regress. He doesn’t have the same infrastructure in Seattle as he did in Minnesota.” Then he won 14 games again.

Pundits then moved the goalposts further by saying, “Well he still hasn’t won a big game.” He proceeded to win three straight playoffs games with zero turnovers, one of which included dueling with the league MVP and future Hall of Famer in Stafford. Another was Super Bowl LX, bringing the second Lombardi Trophy to Seattle.

When will the disrespect end for Darnold? It’s starting to feel like never.

No one likes to be wrong. That’s especially true when your job is to talk for hours on end on TV and get paid to have opinions about the NFL. It doesn’t feel good when you get put on blast by the infamous “Cold Takes Exposed” account. Pride is one of the seven deadly sins and it seems to possess many who still don’t believe their eyes. The goalposts for Darnold appear to be particularly portable in that way.

If you ask Darnold about all this, of course, he will say all the right things. It doesn’t appear to bother him. He will keep being himself. Which now means a championship-winning franchise quarterback, whether media members and/or fans want to swallow their pride and acknowledge it or not.