It appears all of Sam Darnold's skeptics are now eating some humble pie after his Super Bowl win.
It appears Seattle Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold is vindicated after a 2025 season that saw him lead his team to Super Bowl glory.
There were doubters everywhere you looked prior to the 2025 season, and rightly so; let's make no mistake about it.
However, as the year rolled on, and Darnold led the Seahawks to a 14-3 regular-season record, the playoffs began, and this was where we would see if Sam had grown or not.
And he did, rattling off three straight wins, including a 29-13 triumph over the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl.
The redemption tour is now complete.
And since Sunday, when Darnold hoisted the Lombardi Trophy as a Super Bowl champion, we have heard from all the people now giving Sam his flowers after finally coming through in a way many thought he never could.
Now, he comes ESPN's Stephen A. Smith, with perhaps the biggest endorsement of Darnold we've heard.
"My doubts are gone," Smith said on ESPN's First Take. "Give this man the respect where he due. The first five or six years in the league are what they are.
"But over the last two years, when you look at Sam Darnold, you've thrown for over 8,000 yards, thrown for 60 touchdowns, 26 interceptions, and on top of it all, your record in that time was 28-6.
"When you look at it from that standpoint, to just encapsulating everything with a Super Bowl championship, you're a champion. Lamar Jackson can't say that, Josh Allen can't say that."
There you have it.
And Stephen A. is right. Darnold has now done something that other players, who are seen as the elite in the NFL at their position, haven't done. Better yet, haven't even gotten to a Super Bowl. Let alone win one.
Now, Darnold can ride off into the offseason sunset as a vindicated quarterback, with the doubters silenced forever.
It won't matter what Sam does for the rest of his career, or how many times he fails in big games, because we know that for a three-game stretch, when all the money was on the line, he came through.
And his reward? A Super Bowl ring. And silence. Glorious silence.