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Sam Darnold may no longer be a member of the Minnesota Vikings, but he still keeps in contact with his former coach, Kevin O'Connell, even though he signed a three-year, $100.5 million contract with the Seattle Seahawks in free agency earlier this offseason.
The Pro Bowl quarterback earned his big contract with the Seahawks after enjoying a breakout campaign in 2024. Darnold led the Vikings to a 14-3 record and ranked in the top five in passing yards and passing touchdowns last season.
Although he's focusing on getting acclimated to his new team and surroundings, Darnold says he still keeps in touch with O'Connell and some of his former Vikings teammates.
“You've gained trust with everybody, and then all of a sudden you're gone, but that friendship, those relationships, they don't just go away,” says Darnold in a one-on-one interview. “I've stayed in contact with quite a few teammates, former teammates in Minnesota, and stayed in touch a little bit with Kevin O'Connell. Obviously, he's got a pretty busy schedule — as do I — obviously getting ready for next year. But it's been good, just being able to stay in touch with some of those guys.”
Sam Darnold signed with the Seahawks after the team traded their former starting quarterback, Geno Smith, to the Las Vegas Raiders. Meanwhile, the Vikings seemed to lean in a direction where they wanted to move forward with 2024 first-round pick J.J. McCarthy as their franchise quarterback — he missed his entire rookie season due to a meniscus injury — rather than run it back with Darnold as the quarterback.
The 27-year-old quarterback will have the opportunity to match up against his former team in the Vikings when the Seahawks host Minnesota in Week 13.
Expectations will be somewhat high for Darnold as he enters his first season in Seattle as they look to snap their two-year postseason drought. However, betting odds have them pegged at an over/under win total of just 7.5 wins.
Darnold isn't so much focused on replicating the 2024 season he had. He's more so concentrated on being better every day.
“The biggest thing for me is to not think about replicating a season like that,” Sam Darnold said. “I think that's it's really starting from square one, what can I do to put myself in a good position every single day to just get better? It's a cliche, but it's a cliche for a reason. I'm going to continue to try to get better every single day, as are all my teammates.”
Training camp won't start until the end of July, but the Seahawks will start OTAs before the end of May. The veteran quarterback stresses that this is the most important time for the team to start building good habits, which will come in handy once the regular season gets underway.
“If we just go into every day this offseason with that kind of mindset, whether I'm throwing, whether I'm working out, or whether I'm at home recovering, just hanging out, am I doing anything that I can to try to get better that day? If I just have that mindset, and everybody has that mindset every single day, we'll be in a good spot by the time training camp rolls around,” says Darnold.
