Sam Darnold is ranked 20th in QB salary

Between Aaron Rodgers and Russell Wilson.

The combined 2025 cap hits of the starting quarterbacks in the Super Bowl is $21.7 million, which is less than half of the individual cap hits of the 5 highest-paid quarterbacks in the NFL this year.

Of those 5 quarterbacks, four missed the playoffs (Dak Prescott, Joe Burrow, Lamar Jackson, and Kyler Murray) and the fifth lost to Sam Darnold on Sunday. To be fair, Matthew Stafford has taken less money than he could have demanded, but nevertheless he ate 16.9% of the Rams’ cap and L.A.’s defense looked like it could have used more help this week.

Darnold took up 4.7% of Seattle’s 2025 salary cap at a $13.4 million salary.

Help Seaside Joe finally reach a $13.4 million salary by joining the newsletter’s premium membership Regular Joes (bonus content, join the community’s comment section, or just support a Seahawks fan dedicated to sharing team info) for a very low monthly or annual fee:

Full Disclosure: I’m not sure what Darnold’s cap hit could be after hitting almost all of his incentives this season. I do know that he’ll earn another $2.5 million if the Seahawks win the Super Bowl.

And Darnold might have wanted more money and this was the most he could get ($100.5 million over three years, $55 million guaranteed) but whether it was charity or stupidity (by the Vikings), that’s all Seattle had to pay for a Super Bowl quarterback. Which allowed the Seahawks to fill out a Super Bowl roster.

The Patriots went the rookie route, drafting Drake Maye to replace Mac Jones and soon finding out that he’s very good. Nine picks later, the Broncos drafted Bo Nix. That’s 3 of the final 4 teams that went the affordable route at quarterback and one of those franchises will win the Super Bowl.

Having a good quarterback is great. Helping a quarterback be great is better.

We had 155 comments after the game and it was difficult to narrow them down to a handful so just know that I (and we) appreciate your contributions even if I don’t shout you out. All comments are helpful.

Don Ellis: Most valuable Seahawks of the game: Sam Darnold, JSN, Ken Walker and Klint Kubiak. Greatest shot of the game: At 2:12 left, the camera pan to Sean McVay looking completely defeated on the sideline.

This isn’t what you’re referring to but this was also great, you could hang this in the locker room next year:

It looks like Kubiak could be returning in 2026, meaning that re-signing Walker would be the only puzzle piece left from that group to keep in the fold for next season.

Samuel Garfield: This is the most fun I’ve had being a football fan in a long time! The Super Bowl is sweeter when you came into the season with *zero* expectations!

How about we do an expectations check?

There are no wrong answers.

Rozone: Great win for the fans, the team and so special to see Jody Allen get the championship, Mike Macdonald, John Schneider, our standout young players JSN, K9, and certainly Sam Darnold! I’d like to thank the Vikings for doubting his talent so we could have such a humble, proud QB!

I’ve had the thought many times this week that it’s phenomenal how anonymous the Seahawks ownership group/Jody Allen are compared to other owners. It’s exactly what ownership should be doing, not waiting to steal the spotlight like Jerry Jones or the Irsay family.

Scott M: I think Woolen sealed his fate with that penalty. I think any favor he gained the last few weeks got erased. I for one look forward to Woolens departure.

I’m just counting the seconds until the Seahawks can close out the season as Super Bowl champions and move on from Tariq Woolen in free agency. If there were three players from the Pete Carroll regime that I was okay with moving on from regardless of how great they seemed, it was Geno Smith, DK Metcalf, and Woolen.

DK’s 2-game suspension for a fan altercation during Pittsburgh’s playoff push, it just reinforced that mo’ money, mo’ problems.

Defjames: I’m not overlooking the Pats, but our team has fought through the gauntlet and come out on top. We are ready for this!

There is a lot to say about the Patriots in the next two weeks. My first impression is simply that New England’s 17 wins and Seattle’s 16 wins are so incredibly not equal due to a massive difference in strength of schedule (major advantage: Seahawks) and strength of victory (advantage: Seahawks).

And yet the Patriots have won 16 of their last 17 games. Nothing from the past matters anymore, it’s just about who plays the best game in two weeks and that could be either team.

IdahoFred: “Thanks, Joe, for all you do and all your hard work. Thank you Jay for supporting him.” Charley Filipek: Double Yeppers to this, IdahoFred.

Normally I don’t re-post compliments to me (although I always appreciate them for I think obvious reasons, but I had to highlight a shout out to my wife. She deserves it and every time I tell her that I have to go write the newsletter she doesn’t hesitate to always answer with, “WE’RE WAITING!”

She’s supported me writing a daily Seahawks newsletter literally every day that we’ve been together.

Tommy Sensing: Surely beating the Niners, the rams, and then avenging our superbowl loss is the perfect postseason?

I said before the playoffs that it didn’t matter to me who the Seahawks beat to get to the Super Bowl, but now that this part is over it does feel more meaningful to future seasons that Seattle personally delivered the knockout punch to their two biggest rivals.

Paul Johnson: Maybe my fave play of the game, JSN one handed going out of bounds. My sentimental second: Bobo for 6, More Bobo!

How’s this for a stat: Jake Bobo had 2 catches, 20 yards, 0 TD in the regular season but now has 2 catches, 34 yards, 1 TD in the postseason.

The Seahawks lost Tory Horton and Elijah Arroyo during the season but Seattle’s depth has proven to be capable of carrying the load in the biggest games of the year. Horton had 5 touchdowns in 8 games!

zezinhom400: Spoon slipped at least twice and it cost him, could have been the other guys’ cuts or could be he needs other cleats. But he also saved our season and made multiple big tackles. Remains my All-Time-Hitting-Above-His-Weight player and maybe the most valuable player on the team

Although Nick Emmanwori is making a run at that title. Three pass breakups and if he hits you, you’re going down. He played everything from edge to LB to Nickel to DB to safety, we don’t win this game without him.

The pass breakups by these players saved the game. I actually think the Seahawks would have still won even if the Rams went up 34-31 just because of how good Sam Darnold was rolling at that point but glad we didn’t have to find out.

I’m watching Chris Long’s podcast right now and he said that Emmanwori could be the best player on the defense for the next ten years.

Chuck Turtleman: my wife called something in the moment that I didn’t think much of at the time. When the Rams went for it and failed on 4th down, she said she was so glad they didn’t take the points. I didn’t really agree at the time because they would still be down 1, but on that final drive just needing to get into field goal range makes it a different game.

Watching Ben Johnson and Sean Payton lose playoff games in this manner, one of the main things in my head before the NFC Championship was, “Just take the points, man”. Not that I was worried about that…

The Seahawks had 12 fourth down attempts in the regular season, by far the fewest in the league. Is it coincidence that the three best defenses (Seattle, Houston, Denver) were 30th, 31st, and 32nd in fourth down attempts?

Being aggressive is an artform. You want your head coach to be calm and controlled on fourth down decisions like Bruce Lee. Not the drunk guy who mishears someone and tries to take a swing but trips and falls and breaks his nose on the pool table.

AKBear: Joe, I think you meant the curse of Super Bowl XLIX, right? Appreciate this site though!

Context: At the beginning of the article, I wrote “reverse the curse of XL”. I did mean the Super Bowl XL (Seahawks-Steelers) because I just found it so funny that Seattle has now reached both XL and LX. It would be great to finally win a Super Bowl that sounded like XL…that confusion is my bad though. It’s on me because I gave you no context and I understand thinking that I was referencing the Patriots because the Seahawks are facing the Patriots again.

Seth L: If that scenario were presented before the game - that the Seahawks would win if Sam threw for 346 and 3TDs/0INTs, the general consensus even among fans would have been... ok... well we'll try again next year. He did it, under physical, mental, and emotional duress.. what a night for him, the team, the organization, and all the 12s. I'm still numb.

I’ve got a question on my mind now: Where does Sam Darnold rank among quarterbacks to reach the Super Bowl in the last 25 years?

Because winning the Super Bowl is the ultimate goal, but we also remember the quarterbacks who reach the Super Bowl too.

In terms of “Who would I take right now?”, I would take Darnold over Jalen Hurts, Brock Purdy, Jimmy Garoppolo (obviously), and Jared Goff. I think Darnold is also better than Nick Foles/Carson Wentz, the 2015 version of Peyton Manning, Joe Flacco, Colin Kaepernick, Rex Grossman, Jake Delhomme, Kerry Collins, and Trent Dilfer.

Then I’d have to say that my personal preference is Darnold over Cam Newton (I was never a fan). That probably leaves Sam somewhere around Brad Johnson, Eli Manning, Donovan McNabb, Matt Ryan, and Matt Hasselbeck. Obviously Darnold needs a larger body of work to catch up to most of those quarterbacks, but as far as reaching the Super Bowl I think he’s either average or above average. If he wins the Super Bowl, that helps move him up. And then he can just continue to build up his resume more from here if he continues to play as well against great teams as he did on Sunday.

Where would he rank for you?

Dale: I just want to say……Michael Dickson.

In the playoffs, Dickson has pinned 7 of 8 punts inside the 20, not to mention the intimidation factor that led to a turnover. New England punter Bryce Barringer has punted a ridiculous 19 times in the playoffs and only pinned 6 inside the 20. Dickson has been the best special teams weapon on any team in the playoffs and the Patriots’ punting/coverage could be the worst.

Kelly Mamer: One other last comment...I don't recall breaking out in tears after a Seahawks game like I did after this one. I just love this team so much, and the older you get, the more you know how special it is to have a fan experience like this. I used the chat to keep myself grounded the entire game, just feeling the empathetic joy, so thank you to all of you for the community.

That’s the perfect comment to end on. Thank you.

Seaside Joe 2521