Quarterback Sam Darnold lost his “bust” label once and for all during the 2025 NFL season. Darnold led his team again to a 14-win campaign and then took the Seattle Seahawks to their second Super Bowl title in franchise history.
However, it might only get better for the Seahawks quarterback moving forward.
That’s what former NFL receiver and Seattle radio analyst Michael Bumpus argued this week. Bumpus explained why during his radio show on Seattle Sports on Wednesday.
“I think that him having that job security, it does something for an athlete sometimes knowing that you’re the guy, knowing that this franchise believes in you,” Bumpus said. “It allows you to play more freely. And I think he played freely last year too, but I think that after you win a Super Bowl and now you’re validated, you can take another step.”
In addition to back-to-back 14-win seasons, Darnold has thrown for more than 4,000 yards the past two years. During his first season with the Seahawks, he posted 4,048 passing yards with 25 touchdowns.
Darnold averaged 8.5 yards per attempt with a 67.7% completion percentage as well.
Could QB Sam Darnold Get Better in 2026 NFL Season?
Darnold getting even better during the 2026 season is a scary thought for the rest of the NFL. But the explanation from Bumpus for why it could happen makes sense.
Winning the Super Bowl could give Darnold a tremendous amount of confidence. Not that he didn’t have confidence before, but a new level of belief in himself could take him to another level.
Darnold won more games from 2024-25 than he did in his first six NFL seasons. He’s now 3-1 in his postseason career too.
Just about the only thing Darnold didn’t do last season was win MVP or Super Bowl MVP. But that could simply give the quarterback new goals to achieve, along with trying to win back-to-back championships.
Darnold is 28-6 in his past 34 regular season games. He’s averaged 8.2 yards per pass with 60 touchdowns and 26 interceptions during that stretch.
During the 2026 postseason, he averaged 7.4 yards per attempt while throwing five touchdowns and zero interceptions.
Darnold Aiming to be More Consistent in 2026?
At his best, Darnold is an elite NFL quarterback. One area where he might be able to improve, though, is his consistency.
Granted, Darnold was already pretty consistent in 2025. But last season, he did have three games where he threw multiple interceptions. One of those contests was his 4-pick game versus the Los Angeles Rams during Week 11.
Those kinds of major mistakes plagued the quarterback all the time early in his career. They haven’t as much the past two seasons, but there’s still a little bit of the gunslinger mentality in Darnold.
Of course, the Seahawks probably don’t want Darnold to cut back on his aggressiveness. That’s what makes him so good.
But if Darnold could better walk the line of being aggressive while protecting the ball, the Seahawks offense might be able to be even more consistent this fall.
Of course, being a little bit better against the Rams defense might be the biggest key. Two of Darnold’s three multi-interception games in 2025 came against Los Angeles.
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