From the Bench to the Super Bowl: The Sam Darnold Redemption Story
- Matteo Montermini
- Feb 7
- 6 min read
The Super Bowl is finally here. In just a matter of a few hours the final two teams who have battled it out through months of exhausting practices and tough games will step onto the field of Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara and neither will leave until one of them is crowned Super Bowl Champions.
As we prepare for Super Bowl LX we can all see that this one has many unique storylines. The one getting the most attention is by far the Sam Darnold comeback story.
2018-2020 New York Jets
Drafted back in 2018, Sam Darnold was projected to be one of football's best quarterbacks by many draft experts and NFL scouts. Darnold was taken third overall by the New York Jets, and with that, most people thought that the best player in the draft—and maybe one day in the league—had fallen to a franchise that had not had a true franchise quarterback in almost sixty years of competing.
Unfortunately, that was not the case. In Sam's rookie season, he played only 13 games, completed 57% of his passes, and had a touchdown-to-interception ratio of 17 to 15. The Jets finished the season 4–12 and missed the playoffs; however, many were still believers in Sam Darnold, as were the Jets, who gave him the starting job for two more seasons.
Sadly, Sam could not turn it around, winning only nine games over those next two years. During that stretch, he went 7–6 as a starter in 2019 and 2–10 in 2020, leading to overall team finishes of 7–9 and 2–14.
2021-2023 Panthers and 49ers
After three seasons in New York, the next team that gave him a chance was the Carolina Panthers, who had not had an elite quarterback since the Cam Newton days. With that, Sam Darnold was brought in with pressure to be the next franchise quarterback for yet another NFL team.
But yet again, Darnold deeply struggled, only throwing nine touchdowns in 12 games during the 2021 NFL season. After one year as the Panthers' starter, they decided to bench Darnold for the man who was taken No. 1 overall back in Sam’s draft class: Baker Mayfield. Baker did not perform much better than Sam, and after going 1–5, he was released, opening the starting role back up. However, the Panthers decided to give the job to P.J. Walker, who struggled as he fought to complete passes.
So, after ten weeks of waiting, Sam Darnold was given a second chance in Carolina for the remaining six weeks of the 2022 NFL season. Darnold started decently but unfortunately did not play well enough to win games or get a contract extension, forcing him to explore free agency in 2023, where he was signed as Brock Purdy’s backup by the San Francisco 49ers. As Purdy’s backup, he only started one game, where he threw for 189 yards and one touchdown. The 49ers went on to advance to the Super Bowl, where they ultimately lost to Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs, 25–22.
2024 Minnesota Vikings
Following their Super Bowl loss, the 49ers chose to let Darnold explore free agency yet again. This time, the Minnesota Vikings decided to sign him to a one-year deal to back up the young rookie they had drafted that spring. However, things took a sudden turn when J.J. McCarthy tore his meniscus during a training camp practice. Suddenly, Sam Darnold was the only other quarterback on the Vikings' roster, meaning he would be the starter unless the team chose to make another move.
Though they considered it, the Vikings decided to give Sam Darnold one more chance to prove he had what it takes to be an NFL starter. That season, Darnold had a breakout year, throwing for over 4,000 yards with 35 touchdowns and only 12 interceptions, leading the Minnesota Vikings to a 13-4 record. However, it was not enough for a first-round bye or a division win, as their rivals, the Detroit Lions, won 14 games—just one more than the Vikings.
The Vikings could have secured a first-round bye, but due to a pivotal Week 18 matchup against the Lions, they were forced to go on the road in the first round of the NFL playoffs. In that Week 18 game, Detroit exposed a version of Sam Darnold that no one had seen since his days with the Jets and Panthers—a version of him that missed many passes, made poor decisions, and turned over the ball far too many times.
Darnold tried to put that one terrible game behind him, but it was hard to find his focus during their Wild Card game against the L.A. Rams. The Rams' defense successfully blitzed Darnold just as the Lions had the previous week, forcing him to make the quick, rushed decisions that characterized the "old" Sam Darnold from the Jets or the Panthers. The Vikings ended up losing that game 27–9, getting eliminated after a historic regular season from Darnold and the team around him.
2025 Seattle Seahawks
Following their playoff exit, the Vikings were forced to make a hard decision: keep Sam Darnold, whose last two games had reflected most of his career, or let him walk in free agency and ride with J.J. McCarthy, even after he missed his full rookie season with a meniscus injury.
After many talks with everyone in the organization, General Manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah made the final decision to let Darnold walk and shift their full attention to J.J. McCarthy. With that, Sam Darnold was yet again a free agent, even though he was coming off his best season ever. While the Vikings were too stubborn to re-sign him, one team was attracted to him and felt like he was the perfect touch to what they believed was a great team.
The team signed him to a three-year, $100.5 million deal, and just like that, Sam Darnold had finally gotten a big contract and was now the starting quarterback for the Seattle Seahawks. This season, Sam proved all the haters wrong as he again threw for over 4,000 yards and led the Seahawks to a 14-3 record, including a first-round bye.
Despite all this, there were still many haters and skeptics, but they were all silenced by the Seahawks' recent playoff run. In the two playoff games he has played, he has thrown for nearly 500 yards, including 346 of them in the NFC Championship Game, where the lights couldn't be shining brighter. In these two playoff games, Darnold has also thrown four touchdowns and no picks, showing that he is playing elite football, whether you like it or not.
Super Bowl
Now, Sam Darnold has the chance to complete the ultimate comeback story on Sunday, February 8, 2026. If he wins, he can silence all the haters forever and become the first quarterback in the 2018 draft class to win the Super Bowl.
Why is that notable? The other notable quarterbacks taken in the 2018 draft class were Baker Mayfield, Josh Allen, and Lamar Jackson. Allen and Jackson may be viewed as two of the top five quarterbacks in the NFL right now, but how many Super Bowls have they won? Zero. How many Super Bowls have they appeared in? Zero. If the Seahawks win the Super Bowl, Sam Darnold will have more Super Bowl rings than Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson—top quarterbacks who are believed to be two of the best in the league, if not in NFL history.
Finally, Darnold appeared in the Super Bowl with the 49ers back in the 2023–24 season, so this will be the second Super Bowl he is a part of. Again, I say to you: how many Super Bowls have Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson been a part of? The answer is zero—plain old zero. This shows that Sam Darnold has had quite the journey in his NFL career, and that is why it is one of the biggest storylines going into Super Bowl LX.
Super Bowl Prediction If you stuck around to read this full article, it was worth it, because here is my official Super Bowl Prediction.
Now, this is not taking into account any storylines, but by truly looking at these two teams and comparing them. While I see Drake Maye on the Patriots side, I see a Seahawks team that has a great offense with Sam Darnold and recently crowned Offensive Player of the Year star wide receiver, Jaxon Smith-Njigba. However, I also see that they have a greater defense that might be the best defense in the entire league; and you know the saying, "Offenses win games, but defenses win championships." We are talking about winning a championship, not winning one game.
So, with that all being said, I truly believe that the Seattle Seahawks will beat the New England Patriots 31-17 in Super Bowl LX, and Sam Darnold will complete the ultimate comeback story ever.
LET ME KNOW YOUR SUPER BOWL PREDICTIONS!