Which Sam Darnold are the Seattle Seahawks getting?

That’s a question wondered by many after the Seahawks made Darnold their new starting quarterback with a three-year contract last month.

Brock’s Seattle Seahawks Draft Profile: Two athletic guards from the old Pac-12

There’s the Sam Darnold that was on display for the first 17 weeks of last season – the one who completed 68.1% of his passes for 4,153 yards and 35 touchdowns to 12 interceptions in 16 games. That version of Darnold led the Minnesota Vikings to a 13-3 record and a chance to win the NFC North title in the final weeks of the regular season.

And there’s the Sam Darnold who showed up for the final two games for the Vikings – the one who went just 18 of 41 for 166 yards with the NFC North title on the line and was sacked a whopping nine times by the Los Angeles Rams the following week in the wild card round of the NFC playoffs. That version of the quarterback is closer to what he had been through his first six NFL seasons, which had led to many dubbing the former No. 3 overall pick as a bust.

The Seahawks are clearly banking on the thought that the progress Darnold showed for much of the season in Minnesota is real. At least one NFL insider thinks that’s the version of Darnold they’ll get.

“I’ve always been a fan of Sam Darnold,” NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah told Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk during conversation Thursday. “I’ve always believed in Sam Darnold’s ability, and I think there’s so many people that had just put their feet in the ground on him and had decided that, ‘OK, we haven’t seen any good. He’s never going to be good. He’s not good.’

“And it was like they were just eyeballing the first sign of regression and then they were going to throw away the whole rest of the season based off the last two games.”

Jeremiah, a former NFL scout, said Darnold’s performance in Minnesota’s de facto NFC North title game was a bad one. But he’s not convinced that the struggles in the Vikings’ playoff loss fall on Darnold.

“Nobody was playing well in that situation,” Jeremiah said. “He got the tar kicked out of him. I mean, they couldn’t protect. He had no chance.”

Jeremiah likened the situation to what happened in the Super Bowl when superstar quarterback Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs were trampled by the Philadelphia Eagles. The Chiefs had no answers for the Eagles’ menacing pass rush, Mahomes was sacked six times and threw two picks, and Kansas City’s quest for an elusive three-peat ended in a 40-22 loss.

“I always just tell people that are crucifying (Darnold) over those two games, well, then you better be the same person who’s crucifying Patrick Mahomes for the Super Bowl, too, because that’s the same type of a situation,” Jeremiah said.

“I don’t care how great you are. When you can’t pass protect, and you got no time and you’re getting the crap kicked out of you, it’s not going to look good. And that’s what happened in that last game with Minnesota.”

Seattle is the ‘perfect place’ for Darnold

News of Darnold’s signing came out just days after the Seahawks traded starting quarterback Geno Smith to the Las Vegas Raiders for a third-round pick in this year’s draft. The deal reunited Smith with former Seattle head coach Pete Carroll.

Brock and Salk asked Jeremiah if a Smith trade would have gotten done if Carroll hadn’t returned to coaching this offseason.

“I still think you would have found a taker,” Jeremiah said. “I think you would have found similar compensation for Geno somewhere.”

Ex-Seattle Seahawks QB Geno Smith reportedly gets new deal with Raiders

There are some stark similarities between the 27-year-old Darnold and 34-year-old Smith. Both were highly regarded quarterback prospects coming out of college. Both were drafted by the New York Jets. And both struggled early in their careers while failing to live up to expectations.

But like Darnold did last year, Smith experienced a career resurgence with the Seahawks when he took over as the starting quarterback following the Russell Wilson trade in 2022.

Jeremiah sees those similarities as a reason why Darnold fits in nicely with Seattle.

“I think Seattle is the perfect place because they’ve seen a quarterback who was drafted … and it didn’t quite work out for a while, and he just kind of needed to get in that right spot in that right fit and then off he goes,” Jeremiah said. “So I was like, this is a Geno Jr. situation. I mean, it’s history repeating itself.”

Hear the full conversation at this link or in the audio player in this story. Listen to Brock and Salk weekdays from 6-10 a.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app.

Seattle Seahawks news and analysis

• 3 tight end draft targets for Seattle Seahawks after first round
• Seattle Seahawks GM: ‘We’re working on’ adding a fullback
• Brock’s Seattle Seahawks Draft Profile: The fullback Seattle needs?
• Jeremiah: Potential Seattle Seahawks OL targets in ‘sweet spot’ of draft
• Seahawks GM confirms team’s stance on controversial ‘tush push’ play

Follow @ZacHereth