Sam Darnold, on his 5th NFL team, leads Seahawks to Super Bowl LX

Sam Darnold, an eight-year NFL veteran now on his fifth team, will start for the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl LX against the New England Patriots on Sunday, Feb. 8 in Santa Clara, California, live on NBC and Peacock. The Patriots will start second-year quarterback Drake Maye. Darnold is only in his first season as Seattle’s starter but has largely silenced doubters after leading the Seahawks to the NFC title.

Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald praised him after the conference championship, saying, “He shut a lot of people up tonight, so I’m really happy for him.” Darnold’s NFL journey began at USC and continued when he was selected third overall by the New York Jets in the 2018 draft. He struggled in New York but set franchise rookie records for QBR and completion percentage before being traded to the Carolina Panthers, where injuries and losing the job to Baker Mayfield left his Panthers tenure fragmented.

He spent 2023 as Brock Purdy’s backup in San Francisco and was with the team for their Super Bowl loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. In 2024 he signed a one-year deal with the Minnesota Vikings, became the default starter after rookie J.J. McCarthy’s preseason injury, threw for more than 4,300 yards and 35 touchdowns, earned his first Pro Bowl nod and helped Minnesota to a 14-3 regular season before a playoff loss to the Rams.

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