San Jose, Calif. — Seattle Seahawks kicker Jason Myers had known Sam Darnold since the time he entered the NFL as a rookie first-round draft pick by the New York Jets in 2018.
So, when Myers learned Darnold had signed with Seattle in free agency, the two Southern California natives decided to connect a few weeks later for a round of golf at The Bridges Golf Course in San Diego to discuss their new squad.
Myers soon discovered Darnold hadn’t changed much since entering the league seven years earlier. However, that resilience hardened through tough times over five NFL stops and led to a breakthrough this season for the USC product. Darnold’s been one of the primary reasons for Seattle reaching the Super Bowl again for the first time in 11 seasons.
“It was not a shock when he walked into the locker room and clicked with everybody,” Myers told me. “That’s what makes Sam great — he’s the same person. Sam’s the same guy every day, no matter what the situation is.”
Seahawks general manager John Schneider told me that during the offseason, Darnold committed to holding walk-arounds in the locker room — setting up one-on-one conversations with players to get to better know his teammates and build connectivity within the team.
It’s a reason players didn’t flinch when Darnold struggled, publicly backing up their quarterback like Pro Bowl linebacker Ernest Jones IV’s profanity-laced affirmation of Darnold after he threw four interceptions in a midseason road loss to the Los Angeles Rams.
“He has this self-awareness,” Schneider told me. “A team awareness through self-scouting. In the offseason, he really wanted to focus on team building — building relationships and continuity.
“He has these walk-rounds, with guys getting to know each other. It’s the ultimate team sport. The Xs and Os aside, he really wanted to focus on 12 as One and what that means. And that’s guys playing for each other and loving each other up.”
With an up-close look at Darnold’s relationships inside the locker room, quarterback Jalen Milroe echoed those comments from Schneider.
“I did the same thing when I was at Alabama,” Milroe told me. “You’ve got to know your guys on the team. It takes all of us, and he understands that. He’s done a really good job of dealing with all the guys on the team, on offense and defense.”
Darnold finished with a league-high 20 turnovers during the regular season. But undaunted, he played his best football in the postseason, completing 70% of his passes and throwing for nearly 470 yards, with four passing touchdowns and no interceptions, for a league-best 122.4 passer rating.
“It’s just being true to who I am,” Darnold said at the podium at Opening Night. “I’m not trying to be anymore than that. I’ve never been much of a rah-rah guy, but if something needs to be said in front of a group, I’m not afraid to do that.
“I think it’s just understanding who I am as a person. And I think over the past eight seasons in the NFL I’ve done a better job of continuing to learn myself in that way.”
Sam Darnold ‘grateful’ to be with Seahawks, Has he quieted his critics?
Former Seattle Seahawks quarterback Matt Hasselbeck certainly knows what it takes to lead a team to the Super Bowl after joining a new team in the middle of his career. Hasselbeck helped the Seahawks reach Super Bowl XL 20 years ago, breaking through in his fifth season in Seattle.
But Hasselbeck recognized that there are multiple ways a quarterback can rally a locker room around them, noting that he was a different type of leader than Darnold when he played in Seattle.
“He just kind of seems like a golden retriever, where I’m probably more like an otter,” Hasselbeck told me. “With a golden retriever, you just need like one or two best friends, and you’re comfortable staying by them, having these intimate, deep conversations.
“I’m a little bit more like, ‘Yo! Fire pit I my house tonight and everybody’s invited.’ Whoever shows up, shows up. And I’m going to kind of know all of you a little bit. And that’s going to be our normal deal. Who wants to play pick-up hoops? Who wants to play horse? Shaun Alexander and myself, we were the otters. And there were some beavers, there were lions — it takes all types.”
While Darnold might be a golden retriever in his leadership approach, he might played like a lion in the NFC Championship Game. He threw for 346 yards and three touchdowns in the victory, and Hasselbeck pointed to that performance as another step in Darnold’s growth.
“In the 49ers game, he didn’t throw for 200 yards and didn’t turn the ball over,” Hasselbeck told me. “But then he played in the NFC Championship Game, and that wasn’t the assignment. The assignment in that game is we’re going up against the MVP (Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford), with two amazing wide receivers and a tight end that’s a problem. We need you to cut it loose, but we still need you not to turn the ball over.
“We need you to run, and if you get a 1-on-1 with No. 22 (Rashid Shaheed), take it. Anytime JSN (Jaxon Smith-Njigba) has a 1-on-1, take it. That’s the mindset. And he answered. It was like, just play free.”
So, even though Darnold’s leadership style may be different, his teammates have been united in their support of him. Because of that, Darnold has served as a catalyst for why the Seahawks are playing in the Super Bowl on Sunday.
“I don’t think one leadership style is necessarily better than the other,” Hasselbeck said. “But I think what I’ve seen from Sam, he doesn’t get too high, doesn’t get too low. He seems really genuine. And you can tell that the locker room really respects him and loves him.”
