The 2024 NFL season was a dream campaign for Sam Darnold. Thrust into the starting quarterback role with the Minnesota Vikings after an injury to first-round pick J.J. McCarthy, Darnold led the Vikings to a 14-3 record and a berth in the playoffs. At the helm of Kevin O’Connell’s offense, Darnold set career-high numbers in completion percentage, passing yards, QBR, Adjusted Yards per Attempt, and touchdown passes. He also secured his first Pro Bowl selection.
While he may have found a new home for 2025, this season is off to a strong start as well.
Darnold signed with the Seattle Seahawks at the start of free agency, as the Vikings readied their roster for McCarthy to take over under center. When the Seahawks take the field on Thursday night to take on the Arizona Cardinals, they’ll do so with Darnold leading the way and a chance to improve to 3-1 on the young season.
Seattle lost their season opener by a final score of 17-13 to the San Francisco 49ers, a game that saw Darnold throw for only 150 yards on 16 completions, as he was held without a touchdown pass. Since then, the Seahawks have had a pair of big wins, with Darnold leading the way. In a Week 2 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers by a final score of 31-17, Darnold connected on 22-of-33 passes for 295 yards and a pair of touchdowns, along with two interceptions.
In last Sunday’s 44-13 blowout of the New Orleans Saints, the veteran quarterback was nearly perfect, completing 14-of-18 passes for 218 yards and two scores.
Along the way, some of Darnold’s metrics have begun to climb. Against the 49ers in Week 1, Darnold posted a Yards per Attempt of just 6.5, with an Adjusted Yards per Attempt of 6.52.
Those numbers climbed to 8.9 and 7.42, respectively, against the Steelers in Week 2. Last week against the Saints, those numbers jumped again, to 12.1 and 14.33.
What might account for the uptick in production, beyond playing different defenses?
Play-action.
Against the 49ers in Week 1, Darnold had just two dropbacks using play-action, completing one of those two passes for a 21-yard gain. In the days that followed that loss, there were questions raised about the limited use of play-action by offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak. During my weekly radio appearance on SportsNet 650 in Vancouver, the Tuesday after the loss, questions about the lack of play-action led the way.
And with good reason.
According to charting data from Pro Football Focus, Darnold threw 16 touchdown passes last season on play-action concepts, the most in the league. He posted an Adjusted Completion Percentage of 82.8% on play-action concepts, fifth-best in the NFL. And the 10.1 Yards per Attempt he posted on play-action concepts tied him with Jared Goff for second, behind only Brock Purdy.
So Seahawks fans were likely thrilled to see the game plan in Week 2 against Pittsburgh, as Darnold used play-action on 12 of his dropbacks in that game. On those plays, he completed 6-of-10 passes for 120 yards and a touchdown, along with a pair of interceptions.
Last week against New Orleans? Darnold completed 6-of-7 throws using play-action for 116 yards and a touchdown.
As the Seahawks enter tonight’s game, Darnold leads the NFL with 14.3 Yards per Attempt on play-action passes, and the difference in Yards per Attempt between play-action and non-play-action passes is 7.0 yards, the biggest jump in the league.
The old cliche — play-action is a cheat code — seems to apply here.
The film from the last two weeks matches up with the metrics.
Darnold’s first touchdown pass against the Steelers came on a play-action concept in the red zone. Starting under center, Darnold executes a run fake — turning his back to the defense — before training his eyes downfield to read a pair of crossing routes from Tony Horton and Jaxon Smith-Njigba. With the Steelers in man coverage, a cornerback and the free safety jump Smith-Njigba’s route, leaving Horton open on his crosser.
Despite pressure bearing down on him, Darnold connects with the rookie for a touchdown:
On this play in the third quarter, you see another play-action concept, this time a post/dig combination with Smith-Njigba running the post route from the left side, and Cooper Kupp running the dig route on the right. Darnold, again using play-action from under center, hits Kupp on time and in rhythm:
Perhaps the biggest offensive play from Seattle in that game came on this deep connection between Darnold and Smith-Njigba. This time, the Seahawks use run action with Darnold in the shotgun, but it helps free up a deep post route for the wide receiver:
Remember that route combination between Smith-Njigba and Kupp? Seattle returned to that concept against New Orleans. This time, Kupp throttles down over the middle due to the coverage, but off of play-action, Darnold hits Smith-Njigba on the deep post route:
Later in the game, Kubiak turned to a variation of this, with Kupp throttling down on a curl route, again with Darnold using play-action. You’ll see the playside cornerback worried about the deep post from Smith-Njigba, which helps create spacing for Kupp as he settles down:
The uptick in Darnold’s production has followed an uptick in the use of play-action.
Don’t be surprised if you see a lot of that tonight against the Cardinals, and as Seattle’s season rolls on.