The Seattle Seahawks have their Geno Smith replacement in Sam Darnold. Now they have to get him some help.
The Seattle agreement with Darnold is a three -year contract of $ 100.5 million with $ 55 million guaranteed, according to Athletics‘s Dianna Russini.
On paper, it is essentially the same deal that Baker Mayfield has signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last season after a revival of 2023. When explaining the rise in salary limit since then, however, the Darnold deal looks more like an updated version of the three -year contract of $ 75 million, in March 202, after 202, after 2023 after are Breakout season in 2022.
According to the average annual salary, Darnold’s contract is one of the lowest among veteran who starts Quarterbacks. The two-year contract of Justin Fields, $ 40 million with the New York Jets-also agreed on Monday-is currently the lowest. The rankings can change, depending on what happens with Aaron Rodgers and Russell Wilson.
But anyway, the Seahawks acquire Darnold for a bargain compared to the rest of the veteran Quarterback market, and probably for $ 7 million to $ 12 million less a year than the expected extension of Smith with the Raiders.
Geno Smith is expected to get a new deal with Las Vegas. He wants to earn between $ 40 $ 45 million a year.
– Dianna Russini (@dmrussini) March 8, 2025
Seattle is up to the banking of getting the best version of Darnold, who had only one season before last season in which he threw more than 3,000 meters and completed at least 60 percent of his passes (2019 with the jets). At best, Darnold is an athletic, highly armed quarterback that can make large throws. There is a reason why he had the sixth highest touchdown percentage in the competition at 6.4 percent, only a few points behind Joe Burrow (6.6) and well above the competition average of 4.8 percent (all statistics supplied by Trumedia) in 2024.
Seattle saw part of Darnold’s best work up close in the victory of the week 16 of Minnesota at Lumen Field.
The Vikings could get that version of Darnold last season by giving him a capable attacking line-side one that struggled late in the year very good schedule that was heavy on dropbacks for play-action and one of the best wide receiver tandems in the competition. But the acquisition of a younger, cheaper option at Quarterback does not matter whether the Seahawks cannot give him the same level of support, starting with the attacking line.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXDEQVS7JSC
It is expected that Seattle will sign former Ravens-offensive Lineman Josh Jones for a one-year-old deal with a value of a maximum of $ 4.75 million, according to a report Monday by Ian Rapoport from NFL Network. Jones started with several games on watch and Tackle since entering the competition as a third round pick of the cardinals in 2020. He is probably a DIY-it-all-piece on the line and perhaps a replacement for Swing Tackle George Fant, which was released as a cap-savedial measure last week.
Seattle still has to actively look for more bodies. The first day of the free desk was not busy for experienced centers, but a few of the best options came from the board. The Chicago Bears corresponded to conditions Athletics Top Ranken, Drew Dalman, with a three -year contract of $ 42 million that makes him the second highest paid center with an average annual salary. Chicago started this season with the same interior offensive lines as Seattle, and the price that the team paid to protect Quarterback Caleb Williams speaks about how expensive it can be to upgrade the front line.
Chicago exchanged a fourth round pick from 2026 to Kansas City for All-Pro guard Joe Thuney, who has a basic salary 2025 of $ 15.5 million, but is due to a contract extension prior to his age 33 season. De Beren also exchanged a sixth round pick from 2025 to the rams for the 28-year-old guard Jonah Jackson, who owes $ 17.5 million this season.
General Manager John Schneider from Seattle has spoken about the fear of making such obligations. He has made exceptions in the past, such as the three-year-old $ 22.5 million deal that he signed by the 30-year-old Gabe Jackson after trading a fifth round pick in 2021. The move was assumed Quarterback Russell Wilson, who publicly complained about his Passcherne Typical player. Jackson was useful for the first year of the deal.
All these ties with why the Seahawks were usually sleeping on the first day of the negotiation period. Schneider wants to take calculated risks in a free agency, but that can be difficult to do when Seattle is one of the many teams that need offensive upgrades.
One of those other needy teams is Minnesota, which corresponded to conditions with Centrum Ryan Kelly, The athletics’S third ranked center, with a two -year contract of $ 18 million ($ 9 million guaranteed). This Seahawks Free-agency plan mentioned Kelly as a fallback option in case the Seahawks Josh Myers could not land, AthleticsThe second ranked center. At this point in Free Agency, a signing of Myers Seattle would be the best path to upgrade the middle place, which is crucial in the attack of Klint Kubiak.
The start of the free desk was good for guards, and in the coming days more of the same could yield. According to several reports, the following deals were agreed on Monday:
- 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 several players available from AthleticsThe Top 150 rankings, including the top 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 the Darnold deal will reveal more about the available CAP space from Seattle, but otherwise the team would not have made much of a dent with its other signing sessions. 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 in advance on the second day of the free desk.
If the bank’s deal is an indication, fries is a large payment day, although the broken leg that ended his season 2024 could somewhat limit its market. Seattle may have to sweeten his proposal with more years, guaranteed money or both to pry him from another Guard-Nestedy team, such as Minnesota. (Update: Fries agreed with a five -year -old $ 88 million deal with Minnesota on Tuesday, a competition told told Athletics‘s Dianna Russini.)
Scherff or Zeitler would be nice back supplance that makes the Seahawks better, but because they are 33 and 35, those two former Pro Bowlers would of course be temporary solutions.
Seattle must also be active on the broad receiving market, but the attacking line must be the priority. Once that is arranged, Seattle receivers can chase such as Demarcus Robinson, Marquez Valdes-Scantling or even Cooper Kupp, who is expected to be released by the Rams (it is worth mentioning that the Seahawks’s former Rams-Coach Jake Peetz have on Staf as the passing coordinator).
An intriguing fullback option has also emerged, because the 49 people are expected to release veteran Kyle Juszczyk, according to Athletics Jeff Howe.
But day 2 of Free Agency must ensure that the Seahawks have a much better run game than they have had in recent years, and that Darnold does not constantly avoid passtrushers as he was in the wildcard loss for the rams. That match looked like many of Seattle’s trips with Smith, which last season was one of the most busy quarterbacks in the competition.
The only way to justify Smith for Darnold in the name of Jeugd and Cap -saving is to re -assign those funds to the position group that is most responsible for helping the Quarterback at its best.
(Photo of Sam Darnold, left, and Seahawks outside Linebacker Boye Mafe: Steph Chambers / Getty Images)