Florio: Sam Darnold (glute) could miss 4-6 weeks

The Seahawks’ head coach stood by his quarterback today, saying Darnold is “definitely part of the solution” to the offense’s recent struggles. Darnold returned somewhat quickly from a glute tendon strain a couple of weeks ago. One wonders if he is still rounding back into form following the early-season ailment. Backup Drew Lock played well in his stead, but the Seahawks believe their Super Bowl-winning quarterback should keep his job. That makes sense to us. He’s a QB2 next week against the Chiefs.

The Seahawks struggled to move the football throughout against the tenacious situational play calling from Broncos defensive coordinator Vance Joseph, scoring only three points until just over five minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. A late-game surge saw them punch on in and a successful two-point conversion drew the team within three points. They would stop the Broncos on the subsequent possession but an interception in Denver territory put the game in jeopardy. The defense would do their job and force a three-and-out that took only 15 seconds off the clock, giving the ball back to Darnold to lead a two-minute drill to send the game to overtime through a chip shot field goal. Darnold would throw his second interception in overtime, watching from the sideline as the Broncos walked it off with a 53-yard Will Lutz field goal. The loss sends the Seahawks to 3-3, matching the total number of losses from a season ago through only six weeks of the 2026 season. The Seahawks have work to do to make up ground in the NFC West, now 2.5 games behind the undefeated 49ers through the first third of the regular season. Darnold and the Seahawks now have a long week to prepare for the now-undefeated Chiefs at home in Week 7, where Darnold will be a fringe QB2 in fantasy circles.

It was a rough outing for Darnold, who was picked off on his first pass attempt of the day and absorbed a season-high five sacks. His lone touchdown pass came on a 16-yard pass to Jaxon Smith-Njigba. Darnold completed a short two-yard pass to JSN, who turned it upfield for the score to give the Seahawks the 23-21 lead with just over five minutes left in the third quarter. On the Seahawks’ final drive of the game, Darnold found JSN for a 35-yard completion, but three straight incompletions, including an uncharacteristic drop by JSN, put the Seahawks in a fourth-and-10 situation that they were unable to convert after Cooper Kupp came up a yard short on his second reception of the night. Darnold has now thrown seven touchdowns and six interceptions in his last three games since returning from injury, and now faces a short week to get ready for the Broncos on Thursday night. He profiles as a mid-to-low-end QB2 in what could be a tough road matchup.

Darnold’s first pass of the game was intercepted on a throw to the flat that should have gone basically anywhere else. He connected on a screen pass with Emanuel Wilson for his first score, and found Tory Horton on a short slant for his second. The 29-year-old wasn’t close to his best, but could enough against the less-than-spectacular Chargers’ defense. He’ll have a marquee matchup in Week 5 against the 49ers.

It was his first action since leaving in the first series of Week 1 against the Patriots with his hip/glute injury. Darnold’s first interception was a doink off a defensive lineman that landed in the hands of Sonny Styles. The second was an egregious offering that resulted in a pick six. Outside of that, the 29-year-old played relatively well, with two touchdown throws to Jaxon Smith-Njigba and another pair to Cooper Kupp and Eric Saubert. He’ll look to limit the turnovers and find JSN more often in Week 4 against the Chargers at home.

Darnold upgraded to full participation yesterday, so today’s news tracks. In an interview on the Rich Eisen Show earlier today, Seahawks WR Smith-Njigba basically let slip that Darnold would be back, but Eisen let him out of the situation with only a soft follow-up. Darnold can be started as a borderline QB1/2 against a fantasy-friendly Commanders defense in Week 3.

Darnold said today that he is “striving” to play in Week 3 against the Commanders. It sounds like his striding is going well, too. The Seahawks’ starting quarterback is now seemingly on track to play on Sunday. Darnold’s strained glute tendon has healed faster than expected. If active, he can be treated as a high-end QB2.

Darnold was officially listed as a limited practice participant on Wednesday, returning to practice for the first time since his opening day injury. He split first-team reps with Drew Lock and did some throwing off to the side. The Seahawks will make a decision Friday on Darnold’s game status for Week 3 but the 29-year-old has an outside chance of returning against the Commanders.

This means Darnold will likely be listed as a limited participant today. The plan is to ramp him up as the week goes on, and Macdonald said the team would like to have a decision by Friday on whether Darnold will face the Commanders this week. The Seahawks’ quarterback has been sidelined since straining a glute tendon in Week 1. He will probably need to be treated as a QB2 with QB1 upside in his first game back, but his practice participation will clarify his readiness.

To be clear, Rapoport’s tone was controlled and cautionary here. Darnold can only be considered questionable, at best. The Seahawks’ quarterback “is healing faster than anyone had imagined,” but Rapoport adds that the team wants to be “cautious” with him. Backup QB Drew Lock should probably be viewed as the presumptive Week 3 starter at this time, but it sounds like Darnold can reasonably be expected to play in Week 4 at the latest.