There’s a civil war over the quarterback position in the Seattle Seahawks fanbase right now. As someone who has been covering this team in some capacity for the last decade-plus, I’ve become intimately familiar with quarterback civil wars.

We’ve seen it with Russell Wilson, we’ve seen it with Geno Smith, and now, we’re going through it with Sam Darnold.

The Common Misconception

Obviously, Sam Darnold has been playing poorly so far this season for the Seahawks. That’s apparent to anyone who’s been watching the games, including those who continue to stand in his corner. However, there’s an obvious scapegoat to pin Sam’s struggles on, in the form of Brian Fleury. He wasn’t here last year, he’s here now, therefore, it’s his fault.

Don’t take any of what I’m about to say as a defense of Brian Fleury, who I do believe has been very poor to this point as offensive coordinator and playcaller. Now, even if we ignore the fact that Drew Lock has looked better in Fleury’s offense than Darnold so far, this argument hinges on Sam’s struggles starting this season. Let’s make sure they actually have.

Sam Darnold by the Numbers

In 2025, Sam Darnold quarterbacked a top ten offense and won the super bowl. So obviously, he must have played pretty well. During the first nine games of the season, he played exceptionally well. His line over that stretch of football was 2,262 passing yards, 71.1% completion, 17 touchdowns, and 6 interceptions, for a rating of 116.5.

And then, the Rams defense turned him upside down in Los Angeles, and he wasn’t the same. Over the last eight regular season games, Darnold posted 1,786 passing yards, 64.7% completion, 8 touchdowns, and 8 interceptions, for a rating of 83.2. Even if you remove the outlier game in LA, it’s a massive dropoff in performance.

Digging Even Deeper

Advanced numbers tell an even more compelling story. Over that nine game stretch to start the year, Darnold was #1 in the entire NFL in EPA/play (0.337), Success Rate (55.9%), and Completion Percentage Over Expected (11.1%), all while being second in air yards (9.6). Genuinely, he was an MVP candidate. But what about after the Rams game?

Sam’s EPA/play dipped to -0.004 (26th), his Success Rate fell to 50.9% (6th), and his CPOE actually went negative to -0.3 (19th). All the while, his air yards shriveled to 6.8 (23rd). Over that stretch, you might not even be able to call him average. It was easy to ignore since the team kept winning, and Sam came up big in the most important game, but it’s there.

Missing the Forest For the Trees

Things got better in the postseason, but even that was accomplished almost entirely on the back of an incredible performance against the Rams (0.408 EPA). He was highly efficient against the 49ers (0.362 EPA), but was asked to do so little in that game it barely registered. His super bowl performance (-0.009 EPA) was back to below average.

The point I’m trying to make here is that the narrative about Sam playing great until Fleury showed up doesn’t match up with reality. He’s worse now (-0.014 EPA), but the problem started under Klint Kubiak. Even under the instruction of a great offensive coordinator, Darnold could only maintain a high level of play for half a season.

The Honest Truth

So, when discussing Darnold in Seattle, there needs to be a bit of a reality check. It was easy to ignore in the moment, and even shortly after, since the team kept winning, but it’s there. So if your solution to Darnold’s poor play is to reunite him with a quality coordinator, just know that it’s no guarantee of getting Sam back to his MVP-candidate self.

This organization and fanbase will always have love and appreciation for Darnold. He helped them win a Super Bowl, in a season where most assumed the team would be battling just to make the playoffs. But that doesn’t change the fact that, with about a season’s worth of evidence to back it up, he looks like a pretty average player right now.