Vindication? No, Seahawks’ Super Bowl Sam Darnold learned from ... Jerry Rice?
Vindication?
Sam Darnold is about something far more fundamental here at Super Bowl 60, his first chance to win a title as a starting NFL quarterback after four teams gave up on him over his first seven seasons in the league.
He’s SO into feeling healthier. And getting more sleep.
Darnold and his Seahawks practiced at San Jose State University Wednesday in full pads for the first time in almost two full weeks. The Pro Bowl quarterback is throwing more this week than last. Or the week before that. And the week before that.
His left oblique injury on his non-throwing side has improved. That’s thanks to the Super Bowl bye week after Darnold silenced more of his critics in Seattle’s win over the Los Angeles Rams in the NFC championship Jan. 25.
“First of all, it feels really good. Definitely the time off has helped a little bit,” he said Wednesday, four days before he starts in the Seahawks’ Super Bowl 60 showdown with the New England Patriots.
“I’m always going to take one step at a time. Do my rehab. Do everything I need to do to make sure it feels great going into practice, going into the game, obviously, on Sunday.
“But it’s just one thing to add to the routine. And I think (it’s) making sure I keep the routine the same, as I would if we were in Seattle, just practicing on a day-to-day basis, here in the hotel. That’s going to be important here this week.”
Coach Mike Macdonald says, yes, his quarterback is still affected by the injury he got throwing in practice Jan. 15, two shutdown days before he played in Seattle’s 41-6 rout of San Francisco in the divisional playoffs. Yes, veteran backup Drew Lock is likely to take first-team reps in Super Bowl practices this week.
But the head coach said Darnold is throwing a little bit more each practice day. And of course he’s starting Sunday, as he did in the divisional playoff and conference title game — after throwing not at all and very little those practice weeks.
“We’ll see (Wednesday). It’s definitely, gradually increasing by the day. Some days more than others,” Macdonald said before practice Wednesday.
“But he’s in a great spot. I know he’s really confident. We’ll see how (Wednesday) plays out. Not really sure how many throws, what percentage of (the starting offense’s) throws. Can’t really give you that right now.”
Sam Darnold not vindicated
For many around the football nation the narrative remains: Can the Seahawks trust Sam Darnold to win the big one?
He failed in his first three NFL seasons with the Jets, after New York drafted him third overall in 2018 out of USC, at age 21. The Jets traded him to Carolina before the 2021 season, and the Panthers let him go after he went 8-9 for them in two seasons. He was the backup to Purdy for the ‘23 season. He went 14-3 and made his first Pro Bowl while throwing for 4,500 yards and 35 touchdowns in the 2024 season for Minnesota. Even that wasn’t enough for the Vikings to keep him. They chose for 2025 untested J.J. McCarthy, their 10th pick in the 2024 draft. McCarthy’s season-ending injury in his rookie training camp is the only reason Darnold started in Minnesota to earn a Seahawks contract in free agency 11 months ago.
Yet those saying Darnold hasn’t won the big one are leaving out a small detail: He hasn’t played in the big one. Hence, he hasn’t had the chance to win one.
Quarterbacks don’t get drafted third overall onto championship teams. The Jets stunk; Darnold went 13-25 as their starter. The Panthers were a losing team, Darnold lost. His first career playoff start didn’t come until the season prior to this one, that 14-3 season for Minnesota in 2024.
So about that vindication...
Darnold’s not that way. In this glorious Seahawks season in which he’s thrown for more than 4,000 yards and joined Tom Brady as the only QBs in NFL history to win 14 or more games in consecutive regular seasons, Darnold has not taken a public victory lap for the Jets, Panthers, 49ers or Vikings saying, ah, we’re done with Sam Darnold.
Yet what do you think the first question the Seahawks quarterback got when he stepped behind a podium in front of about 100 reporters Wednesday inside the San Jose Convention Center was?
What is this like for you to be in the Super Bowl and get that vindication, after so many teams giving up on you and writing you off?
“I think it doesn’t really come down to that for me,” Darnold said. “It’s always been about putting in the hard work every single day. And sometimes hard work and all the dedication, the hours I’ve put in in the offseason and in the season, it leads to this moment, you know?
“That’s kind of the mindset I have. And really, the mindset I’ve had my entire career.”
Well, not his entire career.
Sam Darnold learned from Jerry Rice
He said he learned, truly the hard way, in those first seasons with the Jets to not be so hard on himself about losses — even after poor practices.
“I learned a ton from the mistakes that I made early on in my career,” Darnold said.
“I feel like as a young player, too, early in my career I was really hard on myself. Like, after a bad rep or a bad practice I would let it kind of affect my attitude, a little bit.”
Who or what turned his attitude around to where he now tells himself: “Eh, that happened. It’s football”?
Jerry Rice.
“Jerry Rice has a quote; I’m just going to paraphrase it: He never had a perfect practice, or a perfect game,” Darnold said of the the San Francisco 49ers legend and Hall-of-Fame wide receiver.
“That’s kind of the mindset I’ve had after my first couple years in the NFL, was like, it’s not always going to be perfect,” Darnold said.
“It’s about, how can you move on from mistakes, to continue to better your team and yourself? I’ve always tried to have that mindset.
“I feel like I learned a ton from those early years I had.”
Sleep-in Sam
About that additional sleep...
Darnold learned that from a 49er, too.
He was the backup to 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy when San Francisco played in the Super Bowl in February 2024, the team’s 25-22 loss to Patrick Mahomes’ Kansas City Chiefs. Darnold said Wednesday he learned from that Super Bowl week the value of getting a lot of sleep early in it.
“These last couple days I was able to get a lot of sleep. And I think that’s huge,” Darnold said. “Because as you get closer to the game, you know, nerves and just your mind might start thinking about the game and things that can happen. And you’re going to bed a little later. You’ve got to wake up earlier.
“Getting as much sleep as I possibly could these last couple days, which I did, is going to help me later on in the week.”
This story was originally published February 4, 2026 at 2:39 PM with the headline "Vindication? No, Seahawks’ Super Bowl Sam Darnold learned from ... Jerry Rice?."
