Are the Seahawks equipped to handle Sam Darnold’s sack issues?

RENTON, Wash. — One month before he stepped onto the practice field for the first time as a member of the Seattle Seahawks, Sam Darnold showed the anticipation and decisiveness that any good quarterback needs.

Darnold was fielding questions at his introductory news conference in March, knowing one would eventually come addressing the disastrous finish to his 2024 season with the Minnesota Vikings. When asked what he learned from that experience, the Seahawks’ new quarterback took it head-on.

“I was waiting for someone to bring that up,” said Darnold, seated on stage at Seahawks headquarters between head coach Mike Macdonald and offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak. “I appreciate that. No, it’s fair, man.”

Darnold, taken with the third overall pick by the New York Jets in 2018, resurrected his career in Minnesota, throwing 35 touchdown passes in a Pro Bowl campaign.

After going 21-35 as a starter while playing for three other teams over his first six NFL seasons, he led the Vikings to a 14-2 record over their first 16 games. But his bounce-back season ended with him struggling in back-to-back blowout losses, the second of which saw him take nine sacks in the wild-card round against the Los Angeles Rams.

“I think being able to get the ball out a little bit quicker … and even if a guy is covered, even if my back’s covered on a checkdown, just throwing it at his feet,” he said reflecting on what he’d do differently. “I feel like I was taking some unnecessary sacks last year, especially those last few games.”

Even before the playoff loss, Darnold’s 7.7% sack rate in the regular season was 10th-highest among qualified quarterbacks. That was partly a product of declining play from an offensive line that lost left tackle Christian Darrisaw midseason, but Darnold didn’t help matters with his propensity to hold onto the ball. His average time before throw was 3.08 seconds, slower than 33 qualified QBs.

Therein lies one of the realities about the Seahawks’ offensive outlook that tends to get overlooked. The offensive line struggled last season to protect Geno Smith, whose 7.7% sack rate was a hair behind Darnold’s. Still, Seattle made only one significant upgrade to its line — drafting left guard Grey Zabel with the 18th overall pick — leading to an oft-asked question about whether the team did enough up front this offseason to position Darnold for success.

But the offensive line is only one part of what the Seahawks hope is a better equation for keeping their quarterback upright in 2025. They are also expecting new coordinator Klint Kubiak to solve some of last season’s problems with his scheme and playcalling, and they’re banking on Darnold succeeding where he failed during his disappointing finish to 2024.

“I’ll definitely be thinking about that,” he said, referring to his struggles over the final two games, “keeping two hands on the ball in the pocket at all times. Just doing all the little fundamental things, but that’s a big one, is being able to just get the ball out on time.”

FOR ANY QUARTERBACK to have a chance to succeed in Seattle, the Seahawks needed to fix multiple problems with their offense this offseason– starting with the coordinator.

In a Week 9 home loss to the Rams that perhaps best illustrated their struggles on that side of the ball in 2024, Smith — who was traded to the Las Vegas Raiders in March — threw three interceptions, two coming in the red zone. He was sacked seven times while playing behind a line that was down to its fourth option at right tackle (rookie Michael Jerrell), and whose struggling center (Connor Williams) would abruptly retire before the next game. Needing just one yard to keep a potential game-winning drive alive in overtime, Seattle was stuffed for no gain on consecutive running plays.

The performance exposed flaws in the Seahawks’ quarterback, offensive line and run game — as well as in then-coordinator Ryan Grubb’s approach. Grubb had Smith in the shotgun on a season-high 90.5% of the snaps that day, including the first of the two failed running plays in OT. And he made Smith a sitting duck, with only two of the quarterback’s dropbacks getting him outside the pocket.

The Seahawks offensive line was overmatched at various spots from a talent perspective in 2024, but Grubb’s system and playcalling played a role in its underperformance, leading to his firing one day after the season finale.

Enter Kubiak.

The new coordinator is, in several ways, a 180 from the guy he’s replacing. Whereas Grubb was a lifelong college coach before Macdonald hired him last year, Kubiak is in his 12th NFL season and third full-time stint as an OC. He runs his version of the Kyle Shanahan system, while Grubb was trying to prove that a prolific, pass-heavy college offense — run mostly out of the shotgun — could succeed at the pro level. Kubiak’s, on the other hand, will be operated more from under center, and it will lean on a run game that focuses on the outside zone while also utilizing a fullback.

“Zone stuff is coming off the ball and running,” Seahawks general manager John Schneider said. “Anytime you can [enforce] your will on somebody else first, especially as an offensive lineman, instilling confidence in those guys is huge. So when you’re backed up and you’re sitting at the 1-yard line and you’re sitting in shotgun and you’re throwing the crud out of it, that doesn’t help those guys’ confidence.”

With Kubiak calling plays for New Orleans last season, the Saints had the league’s fourth-lowest shotgun percentage. They also had the third-highest rate of passing attempts from outside the pocket, which reflects how bootlegs are a staple of his scheme as the natural complement to outside zone rushes.

What does that mean for Darnold? Expect Kubiak to put him on the run and make him a moving target for pass rushers.

“Just moving the launch point is a part of what we do when we have the opportunity to do it,” said Kubiak, who was the 49ers’ passing game coordinator in 2023 while Darnold was backing up Brock Purdy. “Extend the down longer and push the ball down the field. I think if we’re always staying in between the two guards, it just makes life a lot harder for the signal caller, so I’m trying to help him out.”

Having coordinated some of college football’s most pass-heavy offenses, Grubb vowed to be more balanced under the defensive-minded Macdonald. That didn’t come to fruition, as Seattle ranked 28th in rushing and 29th in designed rush percentage. As right tackle Abraham Lucas put it, running the ball will be a “nonnegotiable” under Kubiak.

“We’re trying to be elite at very few things, but those few things are what the offense is going to be based around, and that’s the run game,” Lucas said. “We’re going to be elite at the run game. That’s the philosophy with it.”

The Seahawks are hoping that Lucas’ balky right knee will hold up after limiting him to 13 games over the past two seasons. They also hope they’re better prepared to replace him if need be after signing Josh Jones to be their swing tackle.

With holdovers from last season competing at right guard (Anthony Bradford, Christian Haynes, Sataoa Laumea) and center (Olu Oluwatimi, Jalen Sundell), Zabel may be the only newcomer to the starting five.

Schneider and Macdonald are expecting Kubiak and his scheme to make a difference in Seattle’s ability to keep Darnold clean.

“I think [the new offense] allows the quarterback to play decisive,” Macdonald said.

“NO PEEKING, NO peeking, no peeking,” Andrew Janocko says to Darnold right after the snap during an OTA drill, reminding the quarterback to fully sell the play fake before he pulls the ball back in and rolls out on a bootleg.

“Ball’s gotta go!” the quarterbacks coach shouts during a minicamp drill that practices quick-game throws.

After Kubiak was hired, he brought Janocko, John Benton (O-line coach) and Rick Dennison (run game coordinator/senior offensive adviser) with him from New Orleans while also reuniting with Justin Outten (run game specialist/assistant O-line coach), whom he knew from their time together with the Denver Broncos.

The Seahawks’ hope that coaching continuity will make for a smoother transition to Kubiak’s offense than what they experienced last year with Grubb, who brought only one assistant (O-line coach Scott Huff) with him from the University of Washington.

“It’s really important, especially just in this system,” Macdonald said. “The connection and the detail and just like the shared understanding about what’s expected about the timing and the angles and all this type of stuff, it was able to get off the ground. So you can feel it out there. You can feel it in the rooms. The guys have an understanding of what’s expected on any given play and all the concepts.”

One of Janocko’s most important tasks will be getting Darnold to play on time. Over his first five seasons, he had the eighth-highest sack rate among qualified quarterbacks at 7.2%, while his average time before throw of 2.92 seconds ranked 34th in that span.

Darnold’s performance over the Seahawks’ five offseason practices that were open to reporters was a mixed bag, lowlighted by several plays that ended with the quarterback not getting the ball out of his hands.

Darnold will have to improve that part of his game, and with his three-year, $100.5 million contract containing a potential out for the Seahawks after one season if he were to falter in 2025, he’ll have to do it quickly.

“That’s a balance of playing quarterback,” Darnold said. “I think that’s sometimes the hardest part about it is understanding ‘OK, do I give this enough time to develop and it might be open? Or do I just check it down because the rush might be coming?’ That’s always kind of the dichotomy of playing quarterback in general. That’s the fun part about our job is we get to make decisions like that.”