Once a reclamation project, the Super Bowl champion has vaulted into the league's elite. After shedding his turnover-prone reputation, the veteran quarterback now ranks among pro football’s finest.
There probably aren't many NFL players whose reputations have changed more dramatically over the past two years than Sam Darnold's.
Let's just revisit what the conversation surrounding the former No. 3 overall pick looked like not all that long ago:
Darnold's first three seasons with the New York Jets never produced the franchise quarterback many expected him to become. His subsequent stop in Carolina didn't provide the long-term answer, either ... and by 2023, Darnold was backing up Brock Purdy in San Francisco.
Then Minnesota (and Kevin O'Connell, specifically) called.
Darnold responded with the first Pro Bowl campaign of his career in 2024, finally providing evidence that the quarterback once considered a reclamation project could still become a legitimate NFL starter.
But one successful season created another question ... could he do it again?
The Seattle Seahawks bet that he could.
And after Darnold followed his Minnesota breakthrough by helping Seattle capture the NFC's No. 1 seed and ultimately win a Super Bowl, the conversation has changed once again.
And his peers agree.
The NFL revealed recently that Darnold landed at No. 21 on this year's NFL Top 100, the league's annual player-voted ranking.
The number itself is impressive ... but the distance he traveled to get there might say even more.
Darnold made his Top 100 debut at No. 72 last summer following his breakout season in Minnesota. One year later, he's climbed 51 spots.
That's not simply recognition of a championship. It's a pretty clear indication of how dramatically Darnold's standing among his NFL peers has changed.
And his second act certainly wasn't flawless.
Darnold completed a career-best 67.7 percent of his passes for 4,048 yards and 25 touchdowns last season while averaging 8.5 yards per attempt. He also threw 14 interceptions and committed a league-high 20 total turnovers.
Those mistakes represented the most obvious remaining weakness in an otherwise impressive season.
Then the postseason arrived.
Darnold went turnover-free across Seattle's three playoff games, continuing a streak that began in Week 18, and delivered arguably the defining performance of his career in the NFC Championship Game.
Against the division-rival Los Angeles Rams, Darnold threw for 346 yards and three touchdowns as Seattle escaped with a 31-27 victory and punched its ticket to the Super Bowl.
A quarterback who entered the season facing questions about whether his Minnesota success could survive a change of scenery had answered them with a Lombardi Trophy.
Now comes another unfamiliar development.
Stability.
"Living in the same area, having that stability, that's been amazing," Darnold recently told The Athletic's Jeff Howe.
Darnold didn't shy away from describing what the years before Seattle looked like, either.
"I've been a journeyman for the last maybe three or four years," Darnold continued.
For the first time since 2022, he enters a season with the same organization he played for the year before.
Only now, he isn't trying to win a starting job or convince another franchise that his career can be salvaged.
He's the defending Super Bowl champion quarterback, a two-time Pro Bowler and according to his peers, now one of the 21 best players in football.
And that isn't even where Seattle believes the story ends.
"The sky is the limit," Mike Macdonald told The Athletic. "Why would I put a limit on his development?"
That's quite the change in expectations.
Two years ago, Darnold was trying to prove he could become a long-term NFL starter again.
Last year, he had to prove his Minnesota breakthrough could follow him to Seattle.
He answered that question with a Lombardi Trophy.
Now his peers have ranked him among the NFL's best players, and his head coach is asking an entirely different one.
How much better can he get?
