The Seattle Seahawks may not be facing the long wait it first sounded like with Sam Darnold.
A Tuesday morning update pointed to Darnold missing at least Seattle’s Week 2 trip to the 1-0 Arizona Cardinals on Sept. 20 and the Week 3 game at the Washington Commanders on Sept. 27 after he suffered what was described as a “very unique soft-tissue injury” to his glute in the Seahawks’ Week 1 13-10 win over the New England Patriots on Sept. 9. That same report said he was possibly “looking at about a four-week return to play.”
But the outlook shifted later in the day.
On “The Pat McAfee Show,” ESPN and NFL Network insider Ian Rapoport said there is still a path for Darnold to be back sooner than expected.
“The Commanders game in Week 3 is 17 days from when the Seahawks played,” Rapoport explained.“There is at least a chance that [Darnold] plays in that game. So I would say probably missing one or two games, which is a really, really good outcome.”
That update helps explain why Seattle does not appear to be rushing into a major quarterback move. Darnold went down on the opening possession against New England, and backup Drew Lock handled the rest, completing 16 of 22 passes for 187 yards with one touchdown and no turnovers in the win.
Rapoport also addressed how the injury looked in the moment. McAfee noted that Darnold appeared to be in rough shape while leaving the field against the Patriots.
“This is sort of the problem with injury reporting now,” Rapoport said about Darnold. “It looked awful. And then the actual outcome, you get all the tests, and it's like, 'Eh, pulled the muscle.'”
After Rapoport’s appearance, DraftKings Sportsbook listed the Seahawks as 4.5-point road favorites over the Cardinals. That result could wind up shaping whether Darnold is aiming to return for the Commanders in Week 3 or instead targeting Seattle’s Week 4 home matchup with the Los Angeles Chargers on Oct. 4.
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