Sam Darnold won’t be on the field for the Seahawks in Week 9, and Seattle is turning back to Drew Lock for another start against the Cardinals.
Coach Mike Macdonald said Darnold is out because of a quad injury, leaving Lock to take over for the second time this season. Lock is dealing with an elbow injury of his own, though Macdonald said the team will keep monitoring it as the week goes on. Jalen Milroe is next up behind him.
“He’s able to throw. How much, we’re working through that right now,” Macdonald said about Lock.
Seattle heads into the matchup after a 34-17 loss to the Chicago Bears on Monday night, a game in which Darnold went 17 of 34 for 188 yards, two touchdowns and one interception.
Lock already has one Cardinals start on his résumé this season, and it came in the same building. When Darnold missed time with the soft-tissue injury he picked up in the Week 1 win over the New England Patriots, Lock stepped in against Arizona in Arizona and delivered a sharp performance.
He completed 19 of 26 passes for 235 yards and three touchdowns in a 31-7 Seahawks win. Seattle piled up 381 yards to Arizona’s 151, and Jaxon Smith-Njigba was a major part of that blowout with nine catches for 155 yards and three scores.
The switch comes with Darnold struggling to find his best form since Seattle’s Super Bowl run last season. He’s 3-4 as the starter, averaging 211 passing yards per game, with 10 touchdowns and nine interceptions. His 23 interceptions since 2025 are tied for the most in the NFL, and his -0.67 EPA per dropback when pressured ranks last in the league.
Ben DiNucci said Lock might actually give the 4-4 Seahawks a better shot in this one.
The numbers back up why Seattle may feel comfortable making the change. This season, Darnold has completed 60% of his passes with 7.0 yards per attempt, while Lock has hit 73% with 8.8 yards per attempt.
Darnold’s touchdown-to-interception line sits at 10-9, compared with Lock’s 4-0. Their passer ratings tell a similar story: 79.5 for Darnold, 127.3 for Lock.
Lock’s path to this moment has taken him from Missouri to Denver, where the Broncos made him a second-round pick in the 2019 NFL Draft. He’s 11-18 as a starter in his career, arrived in Seattle in 2022 as part of the Russell Wilson trade, spent the 2024 season with the New York Giants, and then returned to Seattle to back up Darnold.
Arizona is making a quarterback change too. Mike LaFleur has benched Jacoby Brissett for Gardner Minshew, who gave the Cardinals a jolt last week. “Minshew Mania” showed up against the Dallas Cowboys, where the veteran came off the bench, threw three fourth-quarter touchdowns, erased a 14-point deficit and helped Arizona pull out a 33-30 overtime win.
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