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Top 2026 Training Camp Storylines: What's Next For Super Bowl Champion QB Sam Darnold?

After helping lead the Seahawks to a Super Bowl title in his first season in Seattle, what does quarterback Sam Darnold do for an encore?

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With Seahawks training camp kicking off next week, Seahawks.com is counting down, in no particular order, 10 of the most intriguing storylines, position battles and players heading into the 2026 season. So far, we've looked *at special teams, and the return game in particular*, *safety*, *cornerback*, *off-ball linebacker*, the *defensive front*, the *offensive line*, *tight end*, and *receiver*, and today we turn our attention to quarterback. Check back tomorrow when we wrap things up with a look at running back.

Key Quarterback Additions: none.

Key Quarterback Departures: none.

At this time last year, the Seahawks were heading into training camp with three new quarterbacks, starter Sam Darnold, backup Drew Lock and rookie Jalen Milroe, having completely reset their quarterback room during the offseason. Not only that, the Seahawks were also adjusting to an entirely new offense having changed offensive coordinators and schemes following the 2024 season, meaning there were plenty of questions about the offense and the passing game heading into the 2025 season.

This year, things feel quite a bit different heading into camp, with all three of those aforementioned quarterbacks returning, led by Darnold, who has been a Pro Bowler in each of the past two seasons and who helped lead the Seahawks to a Super Bowl title last season.

Yes, the Seahawks changed offensive coordinators again, with Brian Fleury taking over for Klint Kubiak, now the head coach of the Raiders, but there should be a lot more carryover from last year's offense to this year's than there was when Kubiak replaced Ryan Grubb in 2025.

So in all, there are far fewer questions about the Seahawks' quarterback play, and about their offense as a whole, heading into this season than there were last season, but doesn't mean that Sam Darnold will head into his second year with the Seahawks feeling like he can rest in on his laurels. Yes, Darnold won 14 regular season games in each of the past two seasons, then played turnover-free football through the postseason—including a standout 346-yard, three-touchdown performance in the NFC championship game—to help the Seahawks win a Super Bowl.

But Darnold also knows there is still room to grow, be it the occasional turnover issues in the regular season, or what he described as subpar play in the Super Bowl.

"I didn't play great in the Super Bowl," Darnold said this offseason on the Bussin’ With The Boys podcast. "… I missed way too many throws. We still won. Our defense balled out. I didn't turn the ball over, which helped. But dude, to win the Super Bowl that way, I was kind of bummed. I want to score 40 points, you know what I mean? I want to go out there and ball out, and it's just, dang, I didn't play my best football in the Super Bowl? That sucks."

Darnold is obviously being harder on himself that is fair—again, he didn't turn the ball over once over a three-game stretch in the postseason, helping the Seahawks become the first team to play turnover-free football throughout the postseason on the way to a titles—but those comments help illustrate the type of mindset that helped Darnold get to this point in the first place.

By now, Darnold's journey from first-round pick to journeyman backup to Pro-Bowler to Super Bowl champion, has been very well documented, but the biggest trait that helped him reach the heights he has after some career struggles is the same one that should help him thrive and continue to grow even after such a big first season in Seattle. Darnold has always believed in himself and been internally motivated, despite any ups and downs, and that won't change just because he got a big, shiny ring this summer.

"Everyone's made a narrative of this guy, they have tried to put a story and a label on who he is as a person and who he is as a quarterback," Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald said after Seattle’s Super Bowl win over the Patriots. He does not care. He's been the same guy every day since he showed up, he's steadfast, he's a great teammate. His teammates love him. All he's done since he walked in the door is just be a tremendous player on our team and a tremendous leader who is the same guy every day. That's who he is, and that's how we need to talk about him moving forward."

As for a change at offensive coordinator, that shouldn't be too big of an issue for Sam Darnold, not only because Fleury, the former 49ers run game coordinator and tight ends coach, comes from the same West Coast scheme as Kubiak, but also because this is nothing new for Darnold, who will be playing for his seventh offensive coordinator over the past seven seasons.

"It's a lot of the same stuff," Darnold said. "Fleury obviously coming from San Francisco, but a couple different wrinkles here and there. So it's been good that way to be able to get some of that same verbiage but just a couple different wrinkles, like I said. So it's been really good to be able to get some stuff that he's been doing with San Francisco the last couple years and how we incorporate that into our system into what we've been building on the past year."

Behind Darnold, the Seahawks feel great about their quarterback depth, starting with Drew Lock, who has significant starting experience and who is a respected veteran in the locker room. They will also look for Jalen Milroe, a 2025 third-round pick, to continue his development, and perhaps have a role in the offense to utilize his athleticism.

Check out photos of the Seahawks roster for the 2026 season.

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