The Seattle Seahawks have their Geno Smith replacement in Sam Darnold. Now they need to get him some help.
Seattle’s agreement with Darnold is a three-year, $100.5 million contract with $55 million guaranteed, according to The Athletic’s Dianna Russini.
On paper, it’s essentially the same deal Baker Mayfield signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last offseason after a resurgent 2023 season. When accounting for the rise in the salary cap since then, however, Darnold’s deal looks more like an updated version of the three-year, $75 million contract Smith signed in March 2023 after his breakout season in 2022.
By average annual salary, Darnold’s contract is one of the lowest among veteran starting quarterbacks. Justin Fields’ two-year, $40 million contract with the New York Jets — also agreed to on Monday — is currently the lowest. The rankings could change depending on what happens with Aaron Rodgers and Russell Wilson.
But regardless, the Seahawks are acquiring Darnold for a bargain relative to the rest of the veteran quarterback market, and probably for $7 million to $12 million less per year than Smith’s expected extension with the Raiders.
Geno Smith is expected to get a new deal with Las Vegas. He’s been looking to make between $40-$45 million a year.
— Dianna Russini (@DMRussini) March 8, 2025
Seattle is banking on getting the best version of Darnold, who before last season had just one season in which he threw for more than 3,000 yards and completed at least 60 percent of his passes (2019 with the Jets). At his best, Darnold is an athletic, strong-armed quarterback who can make big-time throws. There’s a reason he had the sixth-highest touchdown rate in the league at 6.4 percent, just a few points behind Joe Burrow (6.6) and well above the league average of 4.8 percent (all stats provided by TruMedia) in 2024.
Seattle saw some of Darnold’s best work up close in Minnesota’s Week 16 win at Lumen Field.
The Vikings were able to get that version of Darnold last season by giving him a capable offensive line — albeit one that struggled late in the year — a very good scheme that was heavy on play-action dropbacks, and one of the best wide receiver tandems in the league. But acquiring a younger, cheaper option at quarterback won’t matter if the Seahawks can’t give him that same level of support, starting with the offensive line.
Seattle is expected to sign former Ravens offensive lineman Josh Jones on a one-year deal worth up to $4.75 million, according to a report Monday from Ian Rapoport of NFL Network. Jones has started multiple games at guard and tackle since entering the league as a third-round pick of the Cardinals in 2020. He’s likely to be a do-it-all depth piece on the line and perhaps a replacement for swing tackle George Fant, who was released as a cap-saving measure last week.
Seattle should still actively search for more bodies up front. The first day of free agency wasn’t a busy one for veteran centers, but a couple of the best options came off the board. The Chicago Bears agreed to terms with The Athletic’s top-ranked center, Drew Dalman, on a three-year, $42 million contract that makes him the second-highest-paid center by average annual salary. Chicago entered this offseason with the same interior offensive line needs as Seattle, and the price the team paid to protect quarterback Caleb Williams speaks to how expensive it can be to upgrade the front line.
Chicago traded a 2026 fourth-round pick to Kansas City for All-Pro guard Joe Thuney, who has a 2025 base salary of $15.5 million but is due for a contract extension ahead of his age-33 season. The Bears also traded a 2025 sixth-round pick to the Rams for 28-year-old guard Jonah Jackson, who is due $17.5 million this season.
Seattle general manager John Schneider has expressed apprehension about making those sorts of commitments. He has made exceptions in the past, such as the three-year, $22.5 million deal he signed 30-year-old Gabe Jackson to after trading a fifth-round pick in 2021. The move appeased quarterback Russell Wilson, who publicly complained about his pass protection, but it was a deviation from Schneider’s typical player acquisition strategy. Jackson was useful for only the first year of the deal.
All of this ties into why the Seahawks were mostly dormant on the first day of the negotiating period. Schneider wants to take calculated risks in free agency, but that can be tough to do when Seattle is one of many teams needing interior offensive upgrades.
One of those other needy teams is Minnesota, which agreed to terms with center Ryan Kelly, The Athletic’s third-ranked center, on a two-year, $18 million contract ($9 million guaranteed). This Seahawks free-agency plan listed Kelly as a fallback option in the event the Seahawks couldn’t land Josh Myers, The Athletic’s second-ranked center. At this point in free agency, a Myers signing would be Seattle’s best path to upgrading the center spot, which is critical in Klint Kubiak’s offense.
The beginning of free agency was a good one for guards, and the next few days might produce more of the same. The following deals were agreed to on Monday, according to multiple reports:
- Aaron Banks, Green Bay Packers — four years, $77 million
- Patrick Mekari, Jacksonville Jaguars — three years, $37.5 million
- James Daniels, Miami Dolphins — three years, $24 million
- Ben Bredeson, Tampa Bay Buccaneers — three years, $22 million
- Evan Brown, Arizona Cardinals — two years, $11.5 million
There are still multiple players available from The Athletic’s top 150 rankings, including the top-ranked guard, Will Fries, No. 14 on the list. The others are Mekhi Becton (No. 26), Teven Jenkins (No. 33), Brandon Scherff (No. 51), Kevin Zeitler (No. 58), Will Hernandez (No. 79), Shaq Mason (No. 115) and Dalton Risner (No. 147).
The structure of Darnold’s deal will reveal more about Seattle’s available cap space, but the team hasn’t otherwise made much of a dent with its other signings. Linebacker Ernest Jones IV and defensive tackle Jarran Reed have Year 1 cap hits of $5.2 and $5 million, respectively, according to Over the Cap. Seattle has the cap room to add multiple impact players up front on the second day of free agency.
If Banks’ deal is any indication, Fries is due for a major payday, although the broken leg that ended his 2024 season could limit his market somewhat. Seattle might have to sweeten its proposal with more years, guaranteed money or both to pry him away from another guard-needy team, such as Minnesota. (Update: Fries agreed to a five-year, $88 million deal with Minnesota on Tuesday, a league source told The Athletic’s Dianna Russini.)
Scherff or Zeitler would be nice backup plans who make the Seahawks better, but since they’re 33 and 35, those two former Pro Bowlers would obviously be temporary solutions.
Seattle needs to be active in the wide receiver market, too, but the offensive line should be the priority. Once that is settled, Seattle can pursue receivers such as Demarcus Robinson, Marquez Valdes-Scantling or even Cooper Kupp, who is expected to be released by the Rams (it’s worth noting the Seahawks have former Rams assistant coach Jake Peetz on staff as the passing game coordinator).
An intriguing fullback option has also emerged, as the 49ers are expected to release veteran Kyle Juszczyk, according to The Athletic’s Jeff Howe.
But Day 2 of free agency needs to be about ensuring the Seahawks have a much better run game than they’ve had in recent years, and that Darnold isn’t constantly dodging pass rushers the way he was in the wild-card loss to the Rams. That game looked like many of Seattle’s outings with Smith, who was one of the most pressured quarterbacks in the league last season.
The only way to justify swapping Smith for Darnold in the name of youth and cap savings is to reallocate those funds to the position group most responsible for helping the quarterback be at his best.
(Photo of Sam Darnold, left, and Seahawks outside linebacker Boye Mafe: Steph Chambers / Getty Images)