Sam Darnold’s injury looks like it could keep him out for a short stretch, not a season-altering one.
ESPN’s Ian Rapoport said his understanding is the Seahawks quarterback will miss Week 2 against the Cardinals, with sources saying “we’ll see” about Week 3. Rapoport added that the likeliest outcome is Darnold sitting out two games before having a decent chance to come back in Week 4.
There’s also a key detail on the injury itself: Darnold has a glute injury, not a hip injury, and it’s muscular in nature. The bigger takeaway, though, is that Seattle appears to have avoided a major setback.
While Darnold is sidelined, Drew Lock has stepped in and already helped the Seahawks rally past the Patriots. He’d remain the starter for as long as Darnold is unavailable.
The schedule doesn’t exactly offer much breathing room. Seattle’s next four games are against the Cardinals, Commanders, Chargers and 49ers, with the first two on the road and the next two at home.
Darnold, 28, has taken a long route to this point. He entered the league as a first-round pick of the Jets in 2018, was traded to the Panthers while in the final year of his four-year, $30.370 million rookie deal, and then had Carolina pick up his fifth-year option for 2022. That season, he played on a base salary of $18.858 million.
He became an unrestricted free agent for the first time when he signed a one-year, $4.5 million contract with the 49ers in 2023, then moved on to the Vikings on another one-year deal. After his play improved in Minnesota, Darnold hit free agency as the top quarterback on the market and landed a three-year, $100 million contract with Seattle.
In 2025, Darnold played all 17 games for the Seahawks, completing 67.7 percent of his passes for 4,048 yards, 25 touchdowns and 14 interceptions. He also ran 35 times for 95 yards.
In Other News...
Cardinals Optimism Is Growing But One 2026 Debate Is Just Starting
A fan confidence poll gives the Cardinals a little something they have not always had in recent years: patience. As they open the 2026 season against the Chargers, 67% of fans say the franchise is headed in the right direction, even as FanDuel Sportsbook pegs Arizona at 4.5 wins and gives the team the longest playoff odds in the league. For a team that has spent plenty of time trying to reset expectations, that split between outside skepticism and internal optimism tells you where the conversation is starting.
Walter Nolen has quickly become the fan bases favorite X-factor, which is its own sign of how much hope is being attached to the rosters next wave of talent. But the bigger debate may be less about one player than about whether the organization is finally stable enough to turn that optimism into something real, with questions still lingering around Sam Brissetts play and Nick Rallis handling of the operation. The Cardinals have a lot of believers right now, but the first few weeks will go a long way toward deciding whether that faith is justified. [Read more 🡒]
Cardinals Open A New Era With One Massive Week 1 Question
The Cardinals are opening the 2026 season in a very different place than they finished the last one, with Mike LaFleur taking over as head coach and a familiar face no longer in the quarterback room. Arizona heads into its Week 1 matchup against the Chargers with Jacoby Brissett now in line to start, a move that signals a fresh direction as the franchise begins a new chapter.
Los Angeles provides an early test for a team still trying to settle into life under LaFleur, and the spotlight will be just as much on Arizonas new leadership as on the result itself. The game is set for 4:25 p.m. ET on CBS, with streaming available on Fubo and Paramount+, and it gives the Cardinals an immediate chance to show what this reset is supposed to look like. [Read more 🡒]
Cardinals Finally Get A Big Week 1 Answer On Jeremiyah Love
The Cardinals got one key Week 1 answer before heading into SoFi Stadium, with rookie running back Jeremiyah Love cleared to play after being listed as questionable because of an ankle injury. Arizona and the Chargers both released their final inactive lists for the game, and Love is now set to make his NFL debut.
Loves availability gives Arizona another option in a backfield that already includes Tyler Allgeier and Bam Knight, and the coaches had signaled he would share the workload once he was ready. For a team trying to settle its rotation early in the season, getting the rookie on the field removes at least one bit of uncertainty, even if the exact division of touches remains to be seen. [Read more 🡒]