SANTA CLARA, Calif. — As loud music, cigar smoke and raucous celebration filled the air inside the victorious Seattle Seahawks locker room, cornerback Devon Witherspoon proudly held up the front page of USA Today. It featured a picture of Sam Darnold and running back Kenneth Walker III under the headline “CHAMPIONS!”
“My dog’s a motherf—ing Super Bowl winner,” Witherspoon shouted in reference to his quarterback, patting the newspaper for emphasis. “I see ya, Sammy!”
Across the room, backup Drew Lock reflected on the winding journey Darnold took to Seattle — his fifth team in eight NFL seasons after entering the league as the third overall pick in 2018 — and what he did over the last three games while playing through an injured oblique.
“He’s a killer,” Lock said. “He’s resilient.”
Minutes later, having returned to the locker room after hoisting the Lombardi Trophy on-stage, Darnold set down his beer and described his feelings.
“It’s special, man, I’m not going to lie,” he said. “It’s a dream come true. It really is. I’m just going to continue to lean into that and soak it all in.”
With 202 passing yards and one touchdown, Darnold was not the story of the Seahawks’ 29-13 win over the New England Patriots at Levi’s Stadium. With how good Walker and Seattle’s suffocating defense were, he didn’t need to be. But the job Darnold did in continuing his career turnaround and persevering through injury- and turnover-related adversity this season was not lost on anyone with the Seahawks as they celebrated the second Super Bowl win in the franchise’s 50-year history.
“Super proud of him,” said Pro Bowl defensive lineman Leonard Williams, a teammate of Darnold’s at USC. “He’s had doubters his whole life. He’s had a lot of ups and downs, had a tremendous journey. I think one thing about him, he’s been unwavering through it all. He’s never let one doubter skew his mindset, change who he is, and he’s just a tremendous leader, and he brought us to the Super Bowl and won the Super Bowl.”
The Seahawks were panned by some when they traded Geno Smith to the Las Vegas Raiders in March and gave Darnold a three-year, $100.5 million contract to replace him. All Darnold did was become the first quarterback in NFL history to win 14 regular-season games in consecutive seasons with different teams, having gone 14-3 last year with the Minnesota Vikings before doing the same with Seattle while making his second straight Pro Bowl.
According to ESPN Research, Darnold’s 17 wins, including playoffs, are the most ever by a quarterback in his first season with a team.
“He did everything you want him to do,” Witherspoon said, newspaper in hand. “He came in, he led our team. He’s got a hard position to play but he’s somebody who keeps battling, don’t let anything sidetrack him. That’s Sammy D for you.”
Darnold had downplayed his oblique injury since he suffered it while throwing in practice on Jan. 15, repeating his go-to line earlier this week about how it feels “great.” But it was significant enough to have him listed as a limited participant on the first eight injury reports Seattle released after he was hurt two days before the divisional-round win over the San Francisco 49ers — even if he didn’t appear impacted by it in that game, or when he threw three touchdown passes in Seattle’s win over the Los Angeles Rams in the NFC Championship Game.
But he spoke about the injury in different terms Sunday.
“Yeah, it wasn’t fun by any means,” Darnold said. “It was pretty banged up. Still I don’t really want to go into too much detail because I don’t understand why I would. But it hurt really bad. You guys can imagine, left oblique strain for a quarterback is not very fun.”
Lock, who had to take Toradol shots to play through an oblique injury last season with the New York Giants, said what Darnold did was “something special.”
“He’s awesome,” Lock said. “Being able to do that, take limited practice reps, still have your process throughout the week dialed in, to come out and play the way he has all throughout the playoffs, man, it says a lot about how good of a football player that guy is.”
Darnold made his second straight Pro Bowl despite leading all players with 20 turnovers during the regular season. That included four interceptions in a Week 11 loss to the Rams, when first place in the NFC West was on the line.
That performance created a question about Darnold’s ability to win the big game — not that he had played in many of them while spending his first five seasons with the New York Jets and Carolina Panthers.
But Darnold put that question to rest when he helped Seattle beat the 49ers in Week 18, with the division and top seed at stake. He only attempted 17 passes in the divisional-round game before being pulled in garbage time of Seattle’s blowout win. Then he delivered what coach Mike Macdonald described as an all-time playoff performance in the championship game, having barely practiced that week.
Over Seattle’s last four games, Darnold threw five touchdown passes with no turnovers.
“They have tried to put a story and a label on who he is as a person and who he is as a quarterback,” Macdonald said. “He does not care. He’s the same guy every day since he showed up. He’s so steadfast. He’s a great teammate. His teammates love him. All he’s done since he walked in the door is just been a tremendous player on our football team and a tremendous leader who is the same guy every day, and that’s who he is, and that’s how we need to talk about him moving forward.”
“He’s had doubters his whole life. He’s had a lot of ups and downs, had a tremendous journey. I think one thing about him, he’s been unwavering through it all. He’s never let one doubter skew his mindset, change who he is, and he’s just a tremendous leader, and he brought us to the Super Bowl and won the Super Bowl.”
Seahawks DL Leonard Williams on Sam Darnold
Darnold completed 19 of 38 attempts, taking one sack. His 16 yard touchdown pass to tight end AJ Barner — the only offensive TD the Seahawks scored — gave them a 19-0 lead early in the fourth quarter. He missed a potential touchdown in the first quarter when he overthrew star receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba on an extended play.
“We’d like to get in the end zone more,” he said. “But with our defense, the way that they’ve been playing, my job is to take care of the football. And I knew that coming into the game, and I did that. I took the open guy when they were there. And if I had to take sacks, if I had to throw the ball away, I was able to do it. But I just played that kind of game. And I feel like we ended up coming out on top because of it.”
With the win, Darnold secured another $1 million incentive — and a Super Bowl ring.
After the game, he shared a moment with fiancée and his parents, telling his mom and dad that he’s here because of their belief in him.
“Some people called me crazy throughout my career for believing in myself so much and having so much confidence,” he said. “But it was because of my parents, because of the way that they believed in me throughout my entire career. And it allowed me to go out there and play free and have a ton of confidence.”
When he lifted the Lombardi Trophy on stage alongside Macdonald, Walker and Seahawks owner Jody Allen, he realized it was lighter than he expected.
“It’s great,” he said. “It’s great to be just be able to hold that trophy finally and enjoy it.”
