Sam Darnold ➡️ Seahawks!
Seahawks replace Geno with Sam Darnold
The Seattle Seahawks are signing QB Sam Darnold to a 3-year contract worth a little over $100 million, per Ian Rapoport. The contract has $55 million guaranteed according to Mike Garafolo, although this has not quite been specified by “what kind” of guaranteed money.
There is a big difference between fully guaranteed at signing and injury guarantees.
(Geno Smith left the Jets a year before they drafted Darnold, so I don’t think he left the door ajar in New York.)
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Is there a reason to compare Geno Smith and Darnold? I don’t really think so. The Seahawks didn’t just trade Geno for no reason; Seattle presumably offered Smith the same contract that Darnold accepted and the team chose the player who was good with that amount of money.
In the process, the Seahawks get seven years younger at the position and a third round pick. There’s a chance that Darnold could for the next six years. That kind of run would be stunning for a quarterback who turns 35 in October.
One of the strangest stats of the day:
Geno Smith and Sam Darnold have an identical career sack rate: 7.72%. It is well established by now that sacks are more of a QB stat than an OL stat, so we should still expect Darnold to have an issue escaping pressure — basically at the same level as Geno.
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Apologies for typos, I wrote this on my phone. I want the calling card of Seaside Joe to be that you get breaking Seahawks news AS IT HAPPENS in your email. Before you hear it anywhere else. I have now updated the post a little bit.
At approx $10 million less per season than Geno wants, fully on board.