After replacing head coach Pete Carroll with Mike Macdonald for the 2024 season, the Seattle Seahawks are making another significant change in 2025. This time, the change is on the field, with Sam Darnold coming in to replace Geno Smith at quarterback.
How that swap plays out will go a long way toward determining what sort of season Seattle has.
Here are three burning questions for the 2025 Seahawks, including their big gamble at quarterback.
1. Which Sam Darnold is the real Sam Darnold?
This is the question that will ultimately make-or-break the 2025 Seahawks. After being a bust in New York and floating around the NFL as a backup, Darnold got another chance to start in 2024 when he took over for an injured J.J. McCarthy with the Minnesota Vikings.
The result was a 13-win season, and Darnold played some of the best football of his career.
However, that performance was such an outlier from his previous track record — and Minnesota offered a favorable environment with its wealth of pass-catching talent — that it’s difficult to tell whether it signaled a turning point or was simply a one-off.
Especially when Darnold’s playoff showing was so bad.
After trading Smith to the Las Vegas Raiders at the start of the offseason, the Seahawks signed Darnold to a three-year, $100 million contract to be their new starter. The catch is the Seahawks have an out of the contract after one season, so there is marginal long-term risk if he does not pan out. The fact that Seattle drafted former Alabama QB Jalen Milroe on the second day of the 2025 NFL Draft suggests the Seahawks are not completely sold on Darnold long-term.
2. Did they improve their offensive line enough?
The Seahawks’ offensive line has been a constant source of frustration in recent years, but they finally addressed it meaningfully in the draft by selecting guard Grey Zabel with the No. 18 overall pick.
Will that be enough?
Setting aside the concerns of selecting a guard with a top-20 pick, Seattle still has big questions within the interior of its line and at right tackle, especially after not addressing the line again until the sixth round and not making a big splash in free agency.
They are putting a lot of pressure on a rookie from a small school to improve one of the team’s biggest weaknesses.
3. Does Cooper Kupp still have anything left?
Swapping Smith for Darnold is not the only significant change for Seattle’s offense. The Seahawks also completely overhauled their wide receiver room by releasing long-time player Tyler Lockett and trading D.K. Metcalf to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Seattle then signed veteran wide receiver Cooper Kupp to a three-year contract.
Kupp was one of football’s best and most productive wide receivers at his peak. But does he have enough left in the tank to be an impact player in a No. 2 role behind Jaxon Smith-Njigba?
Not only will Kupp be 32 when the season begins, but he has battled through injuries over the past three seasons, and his production has significantly declined when he has been on the field.
The Seahawks roster will certainly look different during the 2025 season. Whether or not it is better remains to be seen.
