Sam Darnold Addresses 'Certain Thoughts' About Jets, Vikings and More After Seahawks' Super Bowl Win

After leading the Seattle Seahawks to a Super Bowl title last season, star quarterback Sam Darnold isn't interested in reminiscing about his old teams.

While speaking to The Athletic's Jeff Howe, Darnold addressed the notion that he should feel some type of way about teams that got rid of him, like the New York Jets and the Minnesota Vikings.

"A lot of people ask me, like, 'Come on, man. We've heard you say stuff about how you're just taking it one day at a time, but you've got to have certain feelings about certain places you've been.' But it doesn't do me any good to have that mindset," Darnold told Howe. "Even if I did have certain thoughts about certain places, that doesn't do me any good to air that out. Even for myself, when I'm home with my wife, I don't like talking about things that happened three or four years ago. It's just like, what are we doing? You know what I mean? That's just holding onto something that has no meaning. I hold onto the lessons I learned during that time, but it's just a waste of brain space to think about stuff like that."

Darnold was selected third overall by the Jets in the 2018 draft, but he was traded to the Carolina Panthers after just three seasons in New York. After a stint with the San Francisco 49ers, he resurrected his career with the Vikings in 2024, but they let him walk in free agency and sign with the Seahawks.

Now that Darnold has established himself as a Super Bowl champion and one of the top quarterbacks in the NFL, he has more authority within Seattle's offense.

"It's challenging as a quarterback to make certain calls, but that's the fun part about playing quarterback, man," Darnold said with a smile. "I've watched Drew Brees, Philip Rivers, Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers make all these checks at the line of scrimmage. When you get to dissect the defense, figure out what they're doing, be able to check them, get into a good play call, that's always really fun for me."

Despite his recent success, Darnold said he's still carrying the same mindset that he had earlier in his career.

"I've never felt like I've reached the pinnacle. I never feel like I will," Darnold said. "My dad always taught me everything happens for a reason, so I've always had that mindset. As long as you work hard, hard work is going to pay off at some point, whether it's in your football life or your life as a husband, as a father one day, as a grandparent. Those lessons you learn while working hard and going through tough times, they pay off eventually. You just may not know when."

Darnold was also asked if he hopes to finish his career in Seattle, and while he answered affirmatively, he said he's still aware that anything can change at any time in the NFL.

"That's always the dream, right? But you just never know what's going to happen," Darnold said. "That's why, for my entire career, I've treated everything — I would say one year at a time, but it's really one day at a time. I don't look past today. We've got to crush tonight's meetings. And tonight, I'm going to look at tomorrow's script and make sure I'm ready for tomorrow's practice. I just do everything I can to be the best quarterback for this team as long as I'm the quarterback and just go from there."