From draft doubts to postseason destiny, Darnold’s career comes around

Sam Darnold’s road to Super Bowl 60 doesn’t read like prophecy. It reads like resistance.

On Feb. 8, under the bright lights of Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, one quarterback from the vaunted 2018 draft class will take the group’s first snap under center in a Super Bowl.

Not Josh Allen. Not Lamar Jackson. Not Baker Mayfield.

Darnold, a Southern California native who was selected third overall by the Jets, is scheduled to start for the Seahawks against the Patriots.

The 2018 NFL Draft was supposed to reshape the league, and in many ways it has. 

Five quarterbacks were selected in the first round, each carrying the weight of a franchise’s destiny on their shoulders. Allen and Jackson went on to become MVPs. Mayfield has led the Browns and Buccaneers to the playoffs. Josh Rosen became a cautionary tale. 

But what the class didn’t produce — until now — was a Super Bowl starter. For eight seasons, that absence hung over the group like an unanswered question. Darnold answered it the hard way.

Darnold, who grew up in nearby San Clemente, was a late bloomer. Three turbulent seasons in New York stained his reputation and sent him drifting down the depth chart. Backup stints in Carolina and San Francisco followed until a preseason injury to J.J. McCarthy in Minnesota allowed Darnold to step into a starring role with the Vikings. 

Thanks in large part to Darnold, the Vikings finished 14-3 in 2024 and paved the way for his three-year deal in Seattle to replace Geno Smith. 

In 2025, Darnold was no longer chasing validation. Instead, he was armed with perspective and perseverance. 

The result was 4,048 passing yards, 25 touchdowns, a Pro Bowl selection, a 14-3 record and the NFC’s top seed in the playoffs. He played through an oblique injury in the NFC Championship game, carving up the Rams’ defense with three touchdowns and no turnovers in the 31-27 victory.

“You can’t talk about the game without talking about our quarterback,” Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald said after the win. “He shut a lot of people up tonight.”

Darnold shrugged it off and cracked a joke when told he was the first from his class to reach the Super Bowl.

“I actually made it in 2023 as well when I was in San Francisco,” Darnold said. “Obviously, those are great players, but it’s more about the hard work our team has put in this season.”

That humility is earned. 

Of all the QBs from 2018, none endured more professional whiplash than Darnold — not the MVPs, not the playoff regulars. He had to survive being labeled the problem before proving the problem wasn’t him.

History likes its parallels. 

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The 1983 NFL Draft remains the gold standard, producing John Elway, Dan Marino and Jim Kelly — three Hall of Fame careers, 10 Super Bowl appearances, two Lombardi trophies. If Darnold finishes this climb with a championship, and if the 2018 class continues its trajectory, the comparison won’t feel reckless. It’ll feel earned.

There’s another layer to Darnold’s Super Bowl story: He would become the first USC quarterback to start a Super Bowl. Twenty-six Trojans quarterbacks have been drafted, the most of any college, but none started through Super Bowl 59.

Darnold’s story isn’t about rewriting the past. It’s about outlasting it. 

On Feb. 8, he won’t just represent Seattle. He’ll carry a draft class of future Hall of Fame quarterbacks, a college lineage and a career that refused to end when others said it should.