Sam Darnold’s rough stretch is putting the Seahawks in an uncomfortable spot, and Monday night only turned up the heat.
Seattle fell to the Chicago Bears 34-17 on Monday Night Football, a loss that brought more scrutiny to Darnold’s place in the franchise’s long-term plans. The quarterback finished 17-for-34 for 188 yards with two touchdowns and one interception. He also had a second red-zone interception wiped out by a penalty, though the flag didn’t change what happened on the throw itself.
For a Seahawks team sitting at 4-4, the bigger issue is that this wasn’t just one bad night. It was another chapter in a season that has gone sideways for Darnold.
After sustaining a hip injury early in the first game of the season and missing Week 2, Darnold has appeared in six games. In that stretch, he has topped 300 passing yards only once and has been held under 200 yards three times. He has had multiple-interception games, has thrown more picks than touchdowns in three of those outings, and has been sacked 17 times.
The one clean outing came in Seattle’s Week 7 win over the Chiefs, but that game was driven by the defense, which held Kansas City to just three points. In the two prime-time games against the Bears and Broncos, though, the offense has needed Darnold to carry more of the load, and he hasn’t delivered.
That’s where the conversation starts shifting from the present to the future.
When Darnold signed with Seattle in 2025, the deal was viewed as a mid-level contract that the team could move on from after year two. Then the Seahawks won the Super Bowl in his first season, and the agreement suddenly looked like one of the best bargains in football. Now, with the team at 4-4 and Darnold struggling, that view deserves another look.
Seattle could save nearly $26 million against the cap in 2027 by releasing him. There would still be some dead money spread across the next three seasons, but nothing the team couldn’t absorb.
Even if the Seahawks keep him, that doesn’t mean the clock stops. Darnold’s current contract could still end up being his last in Seattle, which opens the door to the 2027 NFL Draft as the place where the team finds his eventual replacement.
That doesn’t have to mean a sudden move away from Darnold. The Seahawks could draft a quarterback with upside, let him develop, and keep Darnold in place for another season. It would be a way to prepare for what comes next without ripping up the current setup.
One name that fits that kind of conversation is South Carolina quarterback LaNorris Sellers.
Sellers has been climbing back up draft boards, and the appeal is obvious. His athleticism and arm talent have long caught the eye of evaluators.
At the same time, he still needs work. His accuracy remains an issue, and his decision-making can be shaky.
But the raw tools, along with the grit and desire he has shown at South Carolina, make him an intriguing option.
There’s also a Seahawks connection that makes the fit easier to imagine. Seattle drafted Jalen Milroe in the 2025 NFL Draft, and Milroe’s scouting profile looked a lot like Sellers’s: big arm, elite mobility, and toughness, with the understanding that he would need development to become an NFL quarterback.
The Seahawks clearly saw enough in Milroe to take him, so it makes sense that Sellers would land on their radar for similar reasons. The wrinkle is that Milroe is already on the roster.
Would Seattle really spend another pick on a quarterback with overlapping traits? That likely depends on how Milroe develops and whether the team thinks Sellers brings more long-term upside.
If the Seahawks aren’t sold on Milroe as the answer, taking another swing at quarterback could be the move.
And with uncertainty around this quarterback class - who goes in the first round, who stays in school, and who comes out - there may be a path for Sellers to enter the draft, land with a strong team, and develop instead of being thrown into a difficult situation too early.
For Seattle, the decision may not need to come all at once. But if this season keeps heading in the wrong direction, the team may have to start turning away from Darnold and toward the 2027 class sooner than expected.
Whether that ends up being Sellers or someone else, the Seahawks have already shown they’re willing to invest in a quarterback behind an established starter. The question now is whether Darnold’s struggles push them to do it again.
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