It’s been almost a week since the Seahawks agreed to terms with Darnold, and the first details of the financials of the contract have finally made their way out.
When free agency opened the Seattle Seahawks were in need of a new starting quarterback after having agreed to trade Geno Smith, who has started for the team for the past three seasons to the Las Vegas Raiders.
Thus, it came as no surprise when the Hawks were initially linked to, and then later reported to have reached an agreement with, one of the biggest names on the free agent market, Sam Darnold. Early reports indicated the deal would be similar to the mid-level contracts quarterbacks such as Baker Mayfield and Geno Smith have signed recently, but almost a week later the details had yet to emerge.
Until Sunday, that is, when ProFootballTalk provided a report laying out some of the specifics.
The Seahawks can escape the Sam Darnold contract after one year, at $37.5 million. https://t.co/bcnwMjaAS9
— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) March 16, 2025
According to PFT, the contract structure breaks down as follows:
- 2025: $37.5M fully guaranteed
- 2026: $27.5M, of which $17.5M is guaranteed for injury at signing, vesting into a full guarantee the Friday after the Super Bowl in 2026
- 2027: $35.5M, none of which is guaranteed.
Of course, at issue is that these numbers are all based on cash flow, rather than cap hits, and cap hits remain what fans are most interested in. However, in spite of the lack of reporting on cap hits, given the way the Seahawks traditionally structure their contracts, the cap hits are likely somewhere in the neighborhood of:
2025: $13.5M ($1.5M base salary, $12M signing bonus proration)
2026: $39.5M ($27.5M base salary, $12M signing bonus proration)
2027: $48M ($35.5M base salary, $12M signing bonus proration)
Again, those numbers are guesses based on how the Seahawks have structured contracts in the past, so they could easily be well off base, and once the final numbers are known Field Gulls will be sure to update readers with all the details.