Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold is a Super Bowl champion.
That seemed like an unlikely destination for Darnold when he was traded by the Jets three years after being selected with the third overall pick and it didn’t feel any likelier when he bounced from the Panthers to the 49ers before the end of his sixth season. Darnold got back on track with the Vikings last year and rose even higher in leading the Seahawks to the top of the NFC during the regular season.
Darnold wasn’t able to replicate his big day from the NFC Championship in Super Bowl LX, but he avoided mistakes during the 29-13 win over the Patriots and touched on his unusual career path while speaking to Melissa Stark of NBC after the game.
“It’s unbelievable,” Darnold said. “Everything that’s happened in my career, but to do it with this team — I wouldn’t want it any other way. I’m so proud of our guys. I can’t say enough great things about our defense and special teams.”
Darnold said in the days leading up to the Super Bowl that he wasn’t interested in personal vindication, but his history was on his mind on Sunday and his persistence showed when Stark asked what message others can draw from his story.
“As long as you believe in yourself, anything is possible,” Darnold said.
Darnold may have cribbed that line from Kevin Garnett, but his story does a spectacular job of making that point.
Before being named the 2025 NFL offensive rookie of the year on Thursday, Panthers receiver Tetairoa McMillan addressed something that had happened one day earlier.
While participating on Wednesday in Streamer Bowl VII, a charity esports tournament, McMillan used a racial slur, twice.
Via David Newton of ESPN.com, McMillan “shouted the words ‘n—-a, n—-a, pick” after making an interception while playing the game.
“Yesterday while on live stream, I used a term I should not have,” McMillan said Thursday on his Instagram, per Newton. “There’s no excuse for what I said -- I sincerely apologize for speaking thoughtlessly and will do better.’'
The Panthers, when asked for comment by Newton, deferred to McMillan’s apology.
Panthers owner David Tepper has previously been mum about why he threw a drink at a fan in Jacksonville two years ago. Now he has offered an explanation.
Tepper told Pat McAfee Jaguars fans had been trash-talking him the entire game and he was ignoring it, despite how close they were getting to his box.
“In Jacksonville, the way it’s set up, they can get on a chair and lean into your box,” Tepper said.
So what set Tepper over the edge? He says it was the way the Jaguars were talking not about him, but about a Panthers player who had suffered a significant head injury.
“I was walking away, our player — Marquis Haynes — got knocked out on the field. The people had been harassing us the whole game, harassing, harassing, harassing. I’m just like, walk away, walk away, walk away. The guy said, ‘Get your frickin’ player off the field.’ I couldn’t take it anymore,” Tepper said.
The NFL fined Tepper $300,000 for throwing the drink.
The Pro Football Hall of Fame welcomed five new members on Thursday night at NFL Honors.
Quarterback Drew Brees, running back Roger Craig, wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald, linebacker Luke Kuechly and kicker Adam Vinatieri will have their busts in Canton.
Brees and Fitzgerald are first-ballot Hall of Famers, and Kuechly and Vinatieri were in their second year of eligibility.
Craig has waited 28 years for his knock on the door. He was one of three seniors candidates in a group that also included Bill Belichick and Robert Kraft as the coach and contributor candidates, respectively.
For the second consecutive year, only one of the five finalists in that group made it into the Hall of Fame. Sterling Sharpe was the only inductee of that group in the Class of 2025.
Seniors L.C. Greenwood and Ken Anderson, like Belichick and Kraft, did not receive the 80 percent required for induction in the Class of 2026.
After much criticism about the selectors’ failure to enshrine Belichick in his first year of eligibility, the elections of Brees, Craig, Fitzgerald, Vinatieri and Kuechly were met with a standing ovation when announced at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco.
Brees learned of his election from Dan Fouts; Ronnie Lott and Charles Haley surprised Craig with the news; Morten Andersen had the honor of telling Vinatieri; Randy Moss informed Fitzgerald; and Julius Peppers was the Hall of Famer who welcomed Kuechly into the Hall.
The Hall of Fame’s membership now stands at 387.
The newest members’ enshrinement will take place Saturday, Aug. 8 in Canton.
Tetairoa McMillan was the eighth overall pick in the 2025 draft. He was the best offensive rookie in the class.
The Panthers wide receiver was named Offensive Rookie of the Year at NFL Honors on Thursday night.
He received 41 of 50 first-place votes and had 445 total points, beating out Saints quarterback Tyler Shough (168, five), Patriots running back Treveyon Henderson (111, one), Giants quarterback Jaxon Dart (88, one) and Bucs wide receiver Emeka Egbuka (66). Seahawks offensive lineman Grey Zabel received the other two first-place votes.
McMillan started all 17 games for the Panthers and caught 70 passes on 122 targets for 1,014 yards and seven touchdowns. The 1,014 receiving yards were the most by a rookie in franchise history, while his seven touchdown catches are second most in Panthers history and the most by any NFL rookie this season.
He finished the season tied for the most catches on fourth down and totaled the most explosive receptions on those six receptions, with five. McMillan had a pair of 100-yard receiving games, and he registered a catch in all 17 games.
