Drew Lock has spent enough time around the NFL to know how rare these chances are. Eight years into his career, the Seahawks quarterback is back in the starting role, and this one carries a little extra weight with Arizona coming to Seattle on Sunday at 4:25 p.m. ET.
Lock put it plainly when talking about what it means to be in this spot again.
“I’m sitting here today, and I get to go be the starting quarterback this weekend for the Seattle Seahawks,” Lock said, via The Athletic's Andrew Destin. “Eight years in, two kids, a wife - I don’t know. It’s just something (that) if you asked me ten years ago if I’m going to be a starting quarterback for a team on a Sunday with two kids and a wife, it’s pretty amazing.”
That kind of perspective comes from a career that has taken plenty of turns. Drafted 42nd overall by the Broncos in 2019 after a strong run at Missouri, Lock entered the league with real buzz.
He had taken over as the Tigers’ starter midway through his true freshman season and piled up 99 touchdown passes in 46 starts. But by 2021, he was no longer Denver’s starter, and the road since then has included time with the Giants and two separate stints in Seattle.
The matchup itself gives Lock a familiar runway. His best start of the season came against the Cardinals in Week 2, when he helped Seattle roll to a 31-7 win.
He completed 19 of 26 passes for 235 yards and three touchdowns, with Jaxon Smith-Njigba doing major damage in the passing game. Smith-Njigba caught all three of Lock’s touchdown throws and finished with 155 receiving yards on 11 targets.
That connection has been a major theme for Seattle’s offense. According to data shared by fantasy football analyst Ian Hartitz, Seahawks quarterbacks have posted a 140.2 passer rating when targeting Smith-Njigba this season.
The rest of the passing game hasn’t been nearly as efficient. When Seattle quarterbacks have thrown to anyone other than Smith-Njigba, they’ve produced a 75.5 passer rating in 2026, a number that sits near the bottom of the league and only barely ahead of the Colts’ 75.4.
Seattle’s Week 2 win over Arizona also showed how the offense can work when it stays balanced. The Seahawks ran the ball 40 times for 162 yards, which kept the Cardinals from pinning their ears back and helped Seattle control the game.
This will be Lock’s fourth start for Seattle and his second this season against Arizona, and the coaching staff sounds comfortable with the setup. Offensive coordinator Brian Fleury said the team had already been through this kind of adjustment before and had no trouble putting the plan together once Lock was named the starter.
“There’s obviously a little bit of an adjustment, but I’m comfortable with what Drew likes and what he’s comfortable executing, particularly against this defense,” Fleury told the Seahawks official team website, via John Boyle. “Luckily, this is something we’ve been through before. It was easy to put the plan together once we got the news he was going to be the starter.
“It gives the entire coaching staff and everybody out there a lot of confidence,” Fleury continued. “We know that he’s done it at a high level against this particular opponent, and he can handle everything they’re going to throw at us, so we feel great going into this game.”
In Other News...
Seahawks Defense Has A Film Problem Fans Will Notice Fast
The Seahawks defense left plenty to sort through after the loss to the Bears, and the film points to a few issues that were hard to miss. Chicago stayed committed to the run on first down, then kept Seattle in uncomfortable spots on second down, where the Bears were able to stay on schedule and avoid obvious passing downs.
Caleb Williams also found answers in the passing game, especially between the numbers and on deeper throws, which made the Bears offense tougher to pin down than Seattle would have liked. The numbers from the game line up with broader NFL trends in a way that should get the Seahawks attention, because this was less about one busted play than a defense that struggled to get off the field in the moments that mattered most. [Read more 🡒]
Seahawks Roster Shuffle Hints At Injury Plan Before Cardinals Game
The Seahawks made a small but telling roster move this week, releasing running back Velus Jones Jr. and bringing him back on the practice squad to open a spot on the 53-man roster. It is the kind of transaction that usually says as much about the injury report as it does about the player involved, especially with Seattle trying to sort through multiple health issues before its Week 9 meeting with the Arizona Cardinals.
Seattle also added quarterback Adrian Martinez and linebacker Jamie Sheriff to the practice squad, giving the team a little more depth as it navigates the week. The open roster spot is expected to be filled by a player from one of the injured positions, which suggests the Seahawks are already bracing for some shuffling before they get to Arizona. [Read more 🡒]
Seahawks Injury Trouble Just Hit Two Spots They Cant Afford
The Seahawks are dealing with fresh injury complications in two places they can least afford them, and both come with immediate lineup implications. Guard Quenton Nelson is set for a minor knee procedure and is expected to be out week-to-week, though Seattle is not planning to place him on injured reserve, according to coach Mike Macdonald. The team also had to sort through a handful of other injury updates and lineup changes as it tried to keep the depth chart intact.
At quarterback, the situation is just as uneasy. Drew Lock will start against Arizona with Sam Darnold sidelined, even as Lock has been limited in practice by an elbow issue. For a Seahawks team trying to steady itself, the timing of those absences only adds to the pressure heading into a game where every healthy body matters. [Read more 🡒]