Sam Darnold’s first season in Seattle ended with a Super Bowl LX title, and now the numbers are backing up what the Seahawks saw on the field. Even with opinions still split on the former 2018 No. 3 overall pick, Darnold finished 2025 as one of the NFL’s most effective passers when the pressure was highest.
PFF ranked Darnold No. 4 among all quarterbacks in clutch situations, a placement that matched the way he handled critical moments throughout the season. He put up a 67.7% completion rate, threw for 4,048 yards, and finished with 25 touchdowns against 14 interceptions. More importantly for the clutch conversation, his work in high-leverage spots stood out.
“The Seahawks quarterback posted just a 0.89% turnover-worthy play rate, generating seven big-time throws against just one turnover-worthy play across 103 clutch dropbacks,” PFF writer Mark Chichester wrote. “But his success wasn't simply about avoiding mistakes.”
Darnold’s clutch profile was built on more than safe decision-making. He finished third in accurate throw rate at 73.3%, while also ranking fifth in negatively graded play rate at 8.9% and fifth in yards per attempt at 8.4, according to Chichester.
“The combination of accuracy, efficiency and ball security helped produce one of the strongest clutch seasons of any quarterback in 2025,” he added.
Seattle’s season gave Darnold plenty of chances to deliver in tight games. The Seahawks went 7-0 in one-score games across the regular season and playoffs before winning the Super Bowl, and Darnold’s lone game-winning touchdown in those spots came in one of the most important stretches of the year.
That moment arrived in Week 16 against the Los Angeles Rams, when Darnold found Jaxon Smith-Njigba in overtime and then hit Eric Saubert on the game-winning two-point conversion. The win shifted the NFC race in Seattle’s favor, and the Seahawks took control from there, earning the No. 1 seed, home-field advantage and a run that ended with a victory over the New England Patriots.
Darnold also delivered one of his best performances of the season in the NFC Championship against the Rams, even without a game-winning score. He went 25 of 36 for 346 yards and three touchdowns, answering two of the biggest questions that had followed him for years: whether he could beat the Rams and whether he could win in the playoffs.
He is now entering the second season of his three-year, $100.5 million contract in 2026. The Seahawks could try to extend him next offseason to keep him from ever reaching free agency, and barring a disastrous season, Seattle appears set to keep him as its franchise quarterback.
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