Sam Darnold's surprising playoff surge lands him among the NFL's elite. Can he overcome turnovers to lead the Seahawks to victory?
The NFL Playoffs are in full swing, as the conference championships will both take place on Sunday.
The Seattle Seahawks have been one of the best teams in the league and in the playoffs so far, and quarterback Sam Darnold's career resurgence is a big reason for that.
In a recent article by Bleacher Report's Gary Davenport, he ranks who he believes are the top 10 players left in the playoffs, and he has the Seahawks' star field general at No. 10.
The B/R countdown: 10. QB Sam Darnold, Seattle Seahawks. 9. DT Leonard Williams, Seattle Seahawks. 8. OT Garett Bolles, Denver Broncos. 7. Edge Byron Young, Los Angeles Rams. 6. Edge Nik Bonitto, Denver Broncos. 5. CB Patrick Surtain II, Denver Broncos. 4. WR Puka Nacua, Los Angeles Rams. 3. WR Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Seattle Seahawks. 2. QB Drake Maye, New England Patriots. 1. QB Matthew Stafford, Los Angeles Rams
"The NFL is a quarterback-driven league. And after piling up 14 wins for the second straight regular season (on two different teams), it's past time to say Seattle's Sam Darnold is a pretty good signal-caller," Davenport writes.
Through the first six years of Darnold's career, he had not yet passed for 4,000 yards, despite being the No. 3 pick in the 2018 NFL Draft. Now in the past two seasons, he has accomplished that feat twice.
The former USC Trojan threw for a 67% completion percentage in 2025, which was seventh in the league, as well as 4,048 yards, which was good for fifth.
He has thrown for a combined 60 touchdowns in the past two seasons, and he has led his team to a 14-3 record both years. The first time was with the Minnesota Vikings, and this season obviously with the Seahawks.
Funnily enough, last season with the Vikings ended for Darnold with a playoff loss to the Rams, which means he will have a chance to get revenge this Sunday.
One might ask why Darnold isn't ranked higher on the list since he is the quarterback of the team with the best record in the NFL. But all you have to do is look at his turnovers to see the reason.
Darnold gave away the ball a bit more than he would have liked this season with 14 interceptions, and he also fumbled the ball an NFL-high 11 times.
If he wants to beat the Rams in the NFC Championship and get revenge for his playoff exit last season, then he will need to limit the turnovers and take care of the ball.
If he can do that, he will prove the haters wrong that called him a bust after he was so highly touted coming out of USC.