Mike Macdonald shuts down potential Seahawks quarterback change, sticking with Sam Darnold

Darnold has thrown an NFL-high seven interceptions, but Macdonald stands behind his starter

Oct 16, 2026 at 1:47 pm ET • 2 min read

It hasn't been the best season for Seattle Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold. He suffered a gluteal injury during the team's season opener and has struggled quite a bit since returning from it. Darnold has completed only 60.4% of his passes at an average of just 6.9 yards per attempt, and he's thrown for seven touchdowns against an NFL-high seven interceptions. He seemingly hit a nadir on Thursday night against the Broncos, completing 52.9% of his passes at 5.5 yards per attempt and throwing two picks, including one that led to Denver's game-winning field goal.

Despite those struggles, Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald is not considering a change under center. 

"No, no," Macdonald said during a radio appearance when asked about a potential switch from Darnold to backup Drew Lock.

Macdonald stated that the Seahawks have a starter-quality backup in Lock, but that the offense can find its way with Darnold under center.

"Sam's played great football for us this year the majority of the time," he said. "There's other times he needs to take care of the football but I think these are solutions we can find with Sam as our QB. I believe that."

Lock played most of two games in place of Darnold (all but the first drive of the opener against the Patriots, and Week 2 against the Cardinals), completing 35 of 48 passes for 422 yards and four touchdowns. That performance was mostly out of line with what he's put on tape throughout his career, though, so it's not that surprising that the Seahawks aren't considering a change just yet. 

Even while he led the Seahawks to a Super Bowl victory, Darnold also struggled with turnovers last season, throwing 14 interceptions — but he was much more efficient in the passing game to make up for it. He completed 67.7% of his passes at an average of 8.2 yards per attempt. The Seahawks are breaking in a new offensive coordinator this year: Brian Fleury, who replaced the departed Klint Kubiak, now the head coach of the Raiders.

Macdonald acknowledged that Fleury has some things to figure out during the mini-bye before the Seahawks take on the undefeated Chiefs in Week 7. 

"Brian is well prepared. He's incredibly smart," Macdonald said, via Seattle Sports. "But as an offense, we need to really look at what we're doing, how we're doing it, what we're asking certain people to do. We need to look at all of those things right now."

That process should probably involve looking at what they're asking Darnold to do and deciding exactly how it needs to be tweaked so he can rediscover some of what made him more effective for most of last season.