How did Seattle get so lucky to get Darnold?

[seabowl]

They were in a difficult spot. The vikings took their shot with McCarthy, and for the FO he was their QB of the future (hopefully). Losing him so early meant that they couldn't get a glimpse of him playing in the NFL. To re-sign Darnold would mean changing course on McCarthy as well as making a big adjustment to their salary cap plans. It also meant that if Darnold regressed, they'd have a very expensive backup while they pivot *back* to their McCarthy plan. It was way too much risk and disruption to try to bring Darnold back. I can't blame them.

Unless they were in cap Hell, I don’t feel it was a difficult spot at all. Sign Darnold to a contract similar to what Seattle signed him for and if he doesn’t do well you can literally cut him after the first year with not a ton of dead cap.

I’ll say it again, you don’t get rid of a quarterback, who was probably top five in the league last year for a quarterback who had never played an NFL game coming off of an ACL injury. You just don’t do that!

 

[bileever]

Unless they were in Hell, I don’t feel it was a difficult spot at all. Sign Darnold to a contract similar to what Seattle signed him for and if he doesn’t do well you can literally cut him after the first year with not a ton of dead cap.

I’ll say it again, you don’t get rid of a quarterback, who was probably top five in the league last year for a quarterback who had never played an NFL game coming off of an ACL injury. You just don’t do that!

You see some NFL coaches make some bizarre decisions when it comes to quarterbacks!

What about Brian Daboll benching Daniel Jones last year, then making him play scout team safety in practice before releasing the player who is in the running for MVP now? Oh, and then deciding Russell Wilson was his guy before drafting Jaxson Dart.

Or Mike Tomlin signing Russell Wilson and Justin Fields before letting them walk and signing 41-year-old Aaron Rodgers?

Or Matt Ruhle having both Baker Mayfield and Sam Darnold on his roster and deciding that a former XFL QB was his best option?

Of course, my favorite is two-time coach of the year Kevin Stefanski deciding that Baker Mayfield was no good and signing a suspended Deshawn Watson to a $240 million fully guaranteed contract.

 

[MontanaHawk05]

who had never played an NFL game coming off of an ACL injury.

This is still a silly point. You might as well never draft anyone then.

 

[Natethegreat]

This is still a silly point. You might as well never draft anyone then.

That doesn't seem like a fair critique. His point was they had a solid starter and didn't know what they had in J.J. yet. You draft in the hope they work out but that doesn't mean you have to let the vet that has shown what he can do walk. Two completely different things.
I get why they moved on but in hindsight it isn't looking like a great move.

 

[seabowl]

That doesn't seem like a fair critique. His point was they had a solid starter and didn't know what they had in J.J. yet. You draft in the hope they work out but that doesn't mean you have to let the vet that has shown what he can do walk. Two completely different things.
I get why they moved on but in hindsight it isn't looking like a great move.

Bingo! You will get many more JaMarcus Russell’s than you will get Patrick Mahomes in the first round and even if you get a great one, they usually aren’t great right away. You had a proven quarterback that was having your offense hum and have the record last year of 14–3. 14–3! Why would you mess with that for a complete unknown?

 

[MontanaHawk05]

Bingo! You will get many more JaMarcus Russell’s than you will get Patrick Mahomes in the first round and even if you get a great one, they usually aren’t great right away. You had a proven quarterback that was having your offense hum and have the record last year of 14–3. 14–3! Why would you mess with that for a complete unknown?

Age, for one thing.

Wanting to avoid getting stuck for multiple years with a potential playoff choker, for another. That's not an unprecedented phenomenon in the NFL.

The desire to avoid having completely wasted a first-round pick, for yet another. No fan base, including us, appreciates our front offices doing that (Aaron Curry, LJ Collier, Germain Ifedi, etc.). Those picks are for franchise-changers and we want return on them.

And no, that's not "sunk cost" fallacy when you've got a drafted QB you believe in.

 

[SantaClaraHawk]

Sam Darnold's deep ball matching Russell Wilson at his very best with Seahawks

The Seahawks are being treated to some of the best quarterback play they've ever had.

www.si.com

 

[seabowl]

Age, for one thing.

Wanting to avoid getting stuck for multiple years with a potential playoff choker, for another. That's not an unprecedented phenomenon in the NFL.

The desire to avoid having completely wasted a first-round pick, for yet another. No fan base, including us, appreciates our front offices doing that (Aaron Curry, LJ Collier, Germain Ifedi, etc.). Those picks are for franchise-changers and we want return on them.

And no, that's not "sunk cost" fallacy when you've got a drafted QB you believe in.

If you know the details on the contract he signed, Seattle if they wanted, could cut ties with him after one year having paid him $37.5 million. In today’s NFL, that’s not a lot of money to bank on a guy who went 14–3 last year to see if he can continue playing like a top five quarterback in the NFL versus having to put in basically a rookie coming off of an ACL injury. Assuming he went to Minnesota and played the way he has in Seattle, the point has already been proven that the decision not to resign Darnold was a terrible one

 

[CPHawk]

You see some NFL coaches make some bizarre decisions when it comes to quarterbacks!

What about Brian Daboll benching Daniel Jones last year, then making him play scout team safety in practice before releasing the player who is in the running for MVP now? Oh, and then deciding Russell Wilson was his guy before drafting Jaxson Dart.

Or Mike Tomlin signing Russell Wilson and Justin Fields before letting them walk and signing 41-year-old Aaron Rodgers?

Or Matt Ruhle having both Baker Mayfield and Sam Darnold on his roster and deciding that a former XFL QB was his best option?

Of course, my favorite is two-time coach of the year Kevin Stefanski deciding that Baker Mayfield was no good and signing a suspended Deshawn Watson to a $240 million fully guaranteed contract.

Rhule is a terrible qb evaluated though and below average coach. He still rolls Mahomes Walmart version out every Saturday

 

[Hollandhawk]

Age, for one thing.

Wanting to avoid getting stuck for multiple years with a potential playoff choker, for another. That's not an unprecedented phenomenon in the NFL.

The desire to avoid having completely wasted a first-round pick, for yet another. No fan base, including us, appreciates our front offices doing that (Aaron Curry, LJ Collier, Germain Ifedi, etc.). Those picks are for franchise-changers and we want return on them.

And no, that's not "sunk cost" fallacy when you've got a drafted QB you believe in.

The QB is bit unique in the first round though. The bust rate is enormous, around 50%. And I'm sure most teams believe in their first round QB, but it turns out it is pretty much always a roll of the dice, and teams (should) know this. Minnesota would have to be really dumb not to sign Darnold to a deal like Seattle did if they could have.

 

[toffee]

Buy Tom is soooooo smart..

A few things that I have read:

1. Pete was hired as a head coach only, without overall authority.
2. Pete said that he always liked Darnold, take that with whatever it's worth.
3. Brady wanted Stafford in the off-season, probably made an offer, but it didn't work
4. Brady didn't want Darnold.
5. Pete likes Geno.

I infer that when the Stafford deal failed, the Raiders could sign Darnold. But with (4) and (5), they traded for Geno.

 

[Runscott]

I like Darnold a lot. I am happy we have him. I think it was a fantastic move to let Geno go and sign Sam.

I also think Geno would be crushing it in this system, with this line.

Yes, we did well. But a lot of Geno's mistakes the last few years involved critical situations and the O-line wasn't always the problem. Darnold's two turnovers vs SF and TB were very different from Geno's turnovers.

 

[gmor]

I can't fault them honestly. Darnold was always a mid tier talent until last season on a team with crazy offensive talent. The Vikings line of thought was surely that if they could get those results with a QB that had always been mid, why not go with the younger and cheaper option?

I'm a Seahawk fan and i'm over the moon with how well Sam's been playing, but nobody on this board can tell me they would have been surprised if it had turned out differently than it has so far.

Couldn't disagree more with your assessment of Darnold's talent level. He's been a very good player from even before college. However, it did take some effort to overcome the Jets debacle. He'll be good for the rest of his career.

 

[Frank12]

1. Pete said that he always liked Darnold, take that with whatever it's worth

I think Pete lied there, because if he liked him so much why didn't he make a move to sign him when he was jumping from team to team?.. either way, I'm happy John made the signing and Geno left..

 

[toffee]

Yes, we did well. But a lot of Geno's mistakes the last few years involved critical situations and the O-line wasn't always the problem. Darnold's two turnovers vs SF and TB were very different from Geno's turnovers.

Geno really believes in his arm, not unlike Bret Favre, just that Geno isn't as good as Favre. As for Favre, his career touchdown-to-interception ratio is 1.51, calculated from his 508 career touchdowns and 336 interceptions—gun slingers, having too much faith in their arms.

 

[warden]

The QB gets too much credit when things are going well and too much blame when it is not going well. People seem to forget that it is a team sport when they are drooling all over the QB

Sam Darnold absolutely got ridiculed the last game he played for the Vikings.

But here is an interesting stat for you, Sam Darnold was sacked nine times that last game for the Vikings. Sam has been sacked only nine times in seven games with the Seahawks.

There are just not many QBs that can have a good game when they get hit that often


Team Game

 

[Runscott]

Geno really believes in his arm, not unlike Bret Favre, just that Geno isn't as good as Favre. As for Favre, his career touchdown-to-interception ratio is 1.51, calculated from his 508 career touchdowns and 336 interceptions—gun slingers, having too much faith in their arms.

Good point. I've been surprised at how confident Darnold is in his own arm - or that Kubiak is in it, as he calls the plays. Darnold's gone sort of long on third, or even fourth down, a few times when it just wasn't necessary, but it's worked almost every time;e.g-that critical touchdown throw against Tampa Bay on fourth down. I wouldn't trust Geno to make such plays. Darnold's dropping clutch dimes much better than I expected.

 

[SoulfishHawk]

Been a pleasant surprise. To a lot of us.

 

[irfuben32]

Yes, we did well. But a lot of Geno's mistakes the last few years involved critical situations and the O-line wasn't always the problem. Darnold's two turnovers vs SF and TB were very different from Geno's turnovers.

A few of them were on DK for not running the route correctly