Eagles regretting extension for Super Bowl-winning QB
Sam Darnold probably won't go down this path, but we should address it anyway
The Eagles went to a Super Bowl in 2022 and then extended Jalen Hurts to a five-year, $255 million contract that is practically guaranteed based on how the deal is structured. Results-based analysis of this decision would argue that Philadelphia hit a home run with the Hurts extension because the Eagles won the Super Bowl a year and a half later.
This take isn’t exclusive to Eagles fans, not by any means. I’m sure many Seahawks fans (and Cardinals fans and Titans fans and 49ers fans) agree that regardless of anything else that happens that “Hurts signed an extension before he won the Super Bowl, therefore it was a good contract.”
But it’s not clear that Hurts’ own teammates and coaches agree.
I think this story is important to Seahawks fans because …
Seattle just won a Super Bowl.
Seattle has a quarterback without a long-term contract.
Seattle is always paying attention to and avoiding these ludicrous quarterback extensions
To be absolutely clear, I think Sam Darnold is much better than Jalen Hurts.
I’m also not sure that Darnold is looking to reset the quarterback market. And I don’t expect the Seahawks to go to the table with his agent until 2027.
But I’ve been extremely anti-bad quarterback contracts for years — the most important position in team sports is also the most overpaid — and I find these opportunities to highlight team regret to be too important to ignore.
On Wednesday, ESPN reporters Jeremy Fowler and Tim McManus wrote that within the Eagles organization Hurts has been cited as the person to blame for Philadelphia’s playoff loss to the 49ers because he has too much power and he’s not good enough for that much responsibility:
"Poor body language, not always bought in, not the most coachable and the players notice," a team source said.
A source close to Hurts said the QB needs coaches who will "check him," opining that Hurts had "too many 'yes' people around him" this past season.
It’s important to note that McManus also highlighted that the constant turnover at offensive coordinator (something the Seahawks have also had to deal with and probably should expect to continue) and the lack of respect that players had for 2025 OC Kevin Patullo was also to blame.
Nick Foles analyzed Philly’s last offensive play against the 49ers, the “four verts” call that ended their season, and his jaw practically hit the floor at the disbelief that the Eagles would call four verts (on back to back plays!) in that situation. It was almost like no high school coach in America would call something so dumb.
According to ESPN, that call was made by Hurts.
“I was like, ‘Oh my God, this is not happening,’” the team source said. “We can’t run four verts.”
Though it’s unclear what other plays were considered, if any, Sirianni ultimately approved Hurts’ suggestion. Within seconds, the plan -- and a premature offseason vacation -- was in motion.
How this applies to the Seahawks, Darnold, and Fleury
When the team’s head coach is not the offensive coordinator, as is the case in Philadelphia and Seattle, the primary play caller becomes one of the five most important people in the organization.
The Eagles went to the Super Bowl with Shane Steichen and Kellen Moore, but they couldn’t win a playoff game with Brian Johnson or Patullo.
The Seahawks missed the playoffs with Shane Waldron and Ryan Grubb, but won the Super Bowl with Klint Kubiak. How far will they go with Brian Fleury? We’ll find out soon.
But when a team also pays their quarterback $50-$60 million per season (by the time Darnold is at the table in 2027, the going rate might be $65-$70 million!), that organization cedes most of its offensive control to that player.
You didn’t really think that Jalen Hurts was going to take orders from a coach who makes 5-7 percent of his salary, did you?
I honestly don’t really know Hurts well enough to comment on his humility, but since Darnold got to Seattle he’s come across as humble. Even back in 2023, after he signed with the 49ers, I heard him do an interview with Jordan Palmer and thought to myself this sounds like a normal, humble dude.
And he never blamed the Jets. And he never blamed the Panthers.
Then last season when he made a big play for the Seahawks, he didn’t over-celebrate, he didn’t pat himself on the back, he never appeared interested in being the center of attention for winning. This was my favorite Darnold play of the season, a self-made first down run and he didn’t even do the cliche first down signal at the end. He just went back to the huddle.
Said John Schneider:
"It means the quarterback isn’t separated from the rest of the team," Schneider said. "He’s one of the guys. And that means he’s a great leader."
This could be because Darnold wasn’t a big recruit for USC and he was a “bust” for the first five years of his career. His intention might not be to reset the quarterback market and set back the organization that signs him.
Darnold might love to be coached and never wants to call plays for the Seahawks.
But no franchise should ignore the fact that the Eagles won a Super Bowl in 2024, they brought everyone back, they went 0-1 in the playoffs in 2025, they’re talking about trading A.J. Brown in 2026, and Hurts might be next.
No quarterback has proven to be worth 20% of the salary cap. It’s pushing it for one player to take up 12% of the salary cap. If Darnold comes back next year and says it’s time to reset the market, look over at the Eagles. If Darnold doesn’t like Fleury and starts calling losing plays, look over at the Eagles.
But if Darnold believe he’s “one of the guys” and nothing more, which I believe is true…look to the Seahawks.
It’s time for another round of Super Joes questions. If you want to send in questions for the next Q&A, upgrade to the Super Joes founding members tier today:
Bret: Some folks, especially Rob Staton, seem quite down on Jonah Coleman because of his lack of explosive traits. I wonder what your take is on him. I wonder what the impact of having such a balanced strong frame on such a short person means for our offense. He seems to have great contact balance, but I also thought that about our seventh round running back from last year. Do you see him as a legitimate Seahawks option in the draft?
On drafting any running back, I agree with ESPN’s Brady Henderson belief that we should listen to what the team is saying about it:
The Seahawks still need to bolster their backfield…But the team’s comments continue to give the impression that it won’t force one of four draft picks on a running back. John Schneider has noted that it’s not a position that tends to have a scarcity of options. He and coach Mike Macdonald are also higher on their current backs than observers might realize.
“I think people kind of are sleeping on the guys we have a little bit,” Macdonald said Monday.
Seattle has seven running backs (depth chart I wrote about here) and they’re kicking the tires around Najee Harris meaning that they’re going to add more. Running backs aren’t only available in the draft, they’re also current free agents, future free agents, and on the trading block.
I also wrote about why I don’t expect a running back here.
On Rob Staton’s opinion of Jonah Coleman, I’m not an expert on what he’s said but I did a little digging and he seems mostly supportive of that prospect as a pick if the Seahawks believe he’s back to his 2024 traits:
His 2025 numbers are not that impressive. He did suffer a PCL injury in November. When you look at his 2024 numbers, it’s a lot more interesting:
19.8% explosive run rate
34.9% missed tackle forced rate
4.34 yards after contact per attemptThese stats, if they were for 2025, would rank him second behind Price for explosive run rate, clearly #1 for missed tackles forced rate and comfortably #2 behind Love for yards after contact per attempt.
If the Seahawks view 2024 as a better reflection of what he is as a player, they are likely to be very interested based on these numbers.
In this clip with Seattle Sports, Rob says that Coleman would be a good pick for the Seahawks.
I touched on Coleman in my 10 draft-able running backs post in February. But I wouldn’t say I’ve gone very deep on the running back class yet and I would trust Rob’s view on the prospects. It doesn’t mean that his opinions are right but I believe that everything he says is what he believes.
On Washington players, I wanted to touch on a memory.
I went to Wazzu but before that I was just a kid rooting for any football players associated with the state of Washington, including and mostly Huskies. So I rooted for Napoleon Kaufman in the NFL even though he was on the Raiders.
Here you had a guy who was a national champion, a top-10 Heisman finalist, a first round pick, and one of the best first names in NFL history.
The Seahawks drafted Joey Galloway ahead of Kaufman in 1995, a much better pick. They probably didn’t consider Kaufman because they had Chris Warren and teams weren’t so aware back then that 28 was really old for a running back. But I’m sure locals would have loved to see Kaufman stay in Seattle.
(Would’ve been even better if the Seahawks had drafted Lawyer Milloy in 1996.)
So whenever I hear about a Washington running back in the draft, I think of Napoleon. Most Huskies and Cougars will not become Seahawks and usually that works out well for the Seattle, although now they’ve got Abe Lucas (WSU) and Cooper Kupp (EWU) and that’s working too.
Question of the day: Who is your favorite college football player of all-time?
Danno: I was commenting on some edge possibilities with a draft analyst on YouTube. They seemed to feel the Seahawks would be looking for a speed rush specialist to replace Mafe. I was suggesting they were looking for someone who could set a hard edge against the run and also provide pressure. They felt they had Hall, Chenna and D-law already as run stoppers and were looking for speed on passing downs.
I don’t agree.
I think MM wants someone who can do both. I’m a fan of Gabe Jacas in the 2nd round and Dani Dennis-Sutton in the 3rd. Both go 6’5’ 260-270. Solid run stoppers who can bring pressure. Since that podcast the Hawks brought Zion Young in for a 30 visit. He fits the big run stopper edge and is similar in size to Jacas and DD-S. MM inherited Mafe. Mafe saw fewer snaps at the end of his career with MM than at the start. I don’t think we replace a Mafe with a cheaper Mafe.
Sounds good to me! Thanks for the recommendations on edge prospects to watch on day two. I’ll be surprised if the Seahawks don’t come away from the first two days of the draft with an edge rusher and I agree with you that those three players (Nwosu, Chenna, Law) are very tenuous.
Schneider has confirmed that there are no plans to release Uchenna Nwosu but can Seattle rely on any of those players past 2026?
I shall keep a closer eye on Jacas, Dennis-Sutton, and Young.
Paul G: Rookie EDGE’s have to be awfully good to make an impact. I’m all for drafting one, but when it comes to the 2026 season I’d also like to sign Von Miller or Clowney.
Your comment also highlights the vast disparity in value on the market at running back vs. what’s still out there among veteran edge rushers. I don’t think the Seahawks are going to trade for De’Von Achane, but it doesn’t mean that it couldn’t happen eventually…and Achane is an All-Pro candidate entering the prime of his career.
So yeah, I agree with you and we saw with Boye Mafe and Derick Hall that there’s a major limit to what fans should expect from first and second-year edge rushers. When I highlighted the success of Nik Bonitto a few days ago, that’s the best day 2 edge pick since 2021 and he didn’t break out until his third season.
Seattle kept Jared Ivey and Connor O’Toole on the roster for the entire 2025 season, so they might feel like there’s a chance for some value there. I’d expect a draft pick and then they might look at players like Miller closer to training camp.
Scott M: Is there a position that has a higher 'success' rate amongst players drafted in the first round?
Forgive me for using your question to pivot to an important point that needs to be made for the Seahawks this year, which is this:
The real “first round” of the draft ends around picks 16-22.
There probably won’t be any guys left at pick 32 who the Seahawks have a first round grade on. This is also why Seattle’s first picks were so underwhelming during Pete Carroll’s most blessed years (pre-2022) as the head coach and why the Seahawks traded down so often.
It’s the reason that the last 5 (Cross, Spoon, JSN, Murphy, Zabel) have been so good. They all went in the top-20.
Among players drafted 26-32 from 2019-2024, you will not find many stars. There are 42 players who fall into that category and these players have the highest career Adjusted Value:
“AV” is a counting stat so it favors players who were drafted longer ago and I’m not saying this is an awesome criteria to use, but it gives us a baseline and I promise you that the list didn’t get that much better after Greg Newsome II (a player who only got a one-year contract in free agency).
Another cornerback on the list is Noah Igbinoghene, the 30th pick in 2020 and now he’s fighting for a spot on Seattle’s roster.
If I had started the criteria at pick 27 instead of 26, then Jordan Love and Montez Sweat wouldn’t have made the list.
My point isn’t that the Seahawks couldn’t draft a good player at 32 (they got Nick Emmanwori at pick 35 last year) but by pick 32 teams are already in the mode of trying to find a “diamond in the rough” because the actual drop-off doesn’t happen at the end of the first round. Some years, the drop-off happens in the middle of the first round.
As to your question about which positions have more success, the most common ones we see on that list would be off-ball linebackers, edge rushers, offensive linemen, and defensive linemen. In fact, those positions dominate that range of the draft.
Fittingly, edge, defensive end/tackle, and guard would make a lot of sense for the Seahawks. But I wouldn’t be surprised by a linebacker either if a standout linebacker is the best player available.
Scott M: So we all kinda seem to believe corner will be addressed in the draft based on roster openings and such...can we get an in depth look into some corners in this draft and which one(s) might be able to best help us guard Puka Nacua and possibly Amon-Ra St Brown?
The Seahawks definitely have their Week 1 secondary set with Witherspoon, Jobe, and Emmanwori as the first line of corners. Assuming Seattle is going to extend Witherspoon, and all signs point to that happening, then they’re going to have all of those players under contract through 2028.
Of course Emmanwori is a chess piece and might not stick at corner and the Seahawks could use their first pick on a cornerback because that would give Mike Macdonald even more options on defense. But there is also a chance that Seattle does not draft a cornerback because they won’t feel forced to do that and then Macdonald trusts that he can put Igbinoghene or Nehemiah Pritchett or Shemar Jean-Charles in a position to succeed.
These are the two positions that I think the Seahawks are most likely to address in their first three picks:
EDGE is #1 (age, injuries, contracts of Nwosu, Law, Hall)
DL is #2 (age, contracts of Leo, Reed)
Cornerback could be Seattle’s first pick or their third pick, but I’m still open to it being no pick. The Seahawks long-term plans are more set at cornerback than they are in the front-7.
As far as stopping Puka Nacua, he might do more to stop himself than any one cornerback could do. If Nacua has another 5 years at the top of the league, I’m not expecting the Seahawks to draft a cornerback with the picks that they have who can be the answer to stopping him. Not to avoid your question asking for specific examples, that’s something I’ll think over in the next four weeks as we get closer to the draft.
Largentium: 1. What are the odds of a trade down for more draft capital and what would a return look like?
2. Any opinions yet on Kyle Louis from Pitt? A guy I know thinks he’d be an excellent fit in MM’s defense.
On Kyle Louis, I touched on him and a few other safety options for the Seahawks back on February 17th. The fact that Louis could be a safety or could be a linebacker, I mean the tweener label is a double-edged sword.
I liked the idea of picking a “weapon” like Louis on day two back then and I still like it now.
The Seahawks haven’t traded down from the first round since 2019…however…as noted, the Seahawks haven’t had a pick lower than 20 since 2019 either.
When the Seahawks traded up from 52 to 35 last year, they gave the Titans pick 82. Schneider might get slightly more juice than that because a first rounder comes with the fifth-year option, however we can’t forget the value lost by falling 20 picks in the order.
Even if Seattle has the same grade on 20 players left on the board at that point, they’re still giving up almost all of their options by trading down. So Schneider might not feel like it’s worth it to go from 32 to 52 to add pick 80. How good is that player at pick 80?
The Seahawks got much more value out of their pick 35 (Emmanwori) than their other two day two picks (Arroyo, Milroe) last season.
I’m definitely not arguing against trading down, but that’s something that I don’t think should get lost in the discussion. Sometimes the player at pick 32 is indeed better than the combined value of a second and a third rounder.
There’s also a scenario in which Seattle goes from 32 to 40 and adds a fourth and a fifth because Schneider want more picks on day three. I could see that happening too and it might be a better deal for the Seahawks.
The only thing that would surprise me would be trading up.