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Sam Darnold went third overall in the 2018 draft as the quarterback who was supposed to fix the New York Jets for a decade. Instead, he got labeled a bust, bounced across five teams in eight years, and became an internet meme along the way. Then between 2024 and 2026 he rebuilt everything – a Pro Bowl year in Minnesota, a Super Bowl ring in Seattle, a wedding, and a spot among the NFL’s top 25 players. So if you’re searching Sam Darnold stats, Sam Darnold age, Sam Darnold wife details, his contract, or the latest Sam Darnold news ahead of Week 5, this covers it – not just the numbers, but how he actually got here.

Sam Darnold Stats & Profile

Attribute	Detail
Full Name	Samuel Richard Darnold
Nickname	Biff (childhood friends), GEQBUS (fan-made joke)
Date of Birth	5 June 1997
Age	29 years (as of October 2026)
Birthplace	Dana Point, California
Height	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Weight	225 lb
Position	Quarterback
Jersey Number	14
Current Team	Seattle Seahawks (2025 to present)
College	USC (2015 to 2017)
NFL Draft	2018, Round 1, Pick 3 (New York Jets)
Marital Status	Married to Katie Hoofnagle (m. April 2026)
Honors	Super Bowl LX champion, 2x Pro Bowl (2024, 2025)

Sam Darnold’s Age: How Old Is Sam Darnold?

Born on 5 June 1997, Sam Darnold is 29 years old as of October 2026. If you’ve been asking how old is Sam Darnold compared with the rest of his draft class, he’s right in the middle of the pack – still young for a quarterback, but already a nine-year veteran. At 21 he became a Week 1 starter as a rookie, and at 28 he lifted a Lombardi Trophy. Sam Darnold age is the one number in his story that still works in his favor, and anyone wondering how old is Sam Darnold today should know he likely has plenty of football left.

Early Life & Background

Darnold was born in Dana Point and grew up in nearby San Clemente, a surf town in Orange County. His mother is a physical education teacher, his older sister Franki played college volleyball at Rhode Island, and sports were just what the family did.

There’s a quirky detail in the family tree, too. His Sam Darnold grandfather, Dick Hammer, was a USC athlete who also worked as a Marlboro Man actor, which is why searches for Marlboro Man Sam Darnold keep popping up whenever he plays on a big stage. People looking up Dick Hammer Sam Darnold are usually trying to confirm the link, and it’s real. Plenty of fans also type Sam Darnold grandpa into search and land on the same answer. The Sam Darnold grandfather story adds a Trojan thread to a family that had USC ties before Sam ever signed there.

Darnold has talked openly about his Christian faith and his family as the things that kept him steady during the rough years. He’s also close with fellow quarterbacks Josh Allen and Kyle Allen, who train with him in the offseason.

Sam Darnold High School Years

The Sam Darnold high school story at San Clemente is a two-sport legend. He played baseball as a freshman, then football and basketball, and he won South Coast League basketball MVP twice. His hoops coach once said he could grab a defensive rebound and launch a 70-foot pass on target, which sounds a lot like an NFL quarterback.

He began as a receiver and linebacker, filled in at quarterback as a sophomore after an injury, and never really gave the job back. As a senior he threw for about 3,000 yards and 39 touchdowns and added 800 rushing yards and 13 scores. A concussion in the section title game ended that run in a 44-37 loss, but the tape was already on every recruiter’s desk.

Sam Darnold’s College Career at USC

The Sam Darnold college chapter is where the hype machine started. Rated a four-star recruit, he picked USC over offers from Oregon, Utah, Northwestern, and Duke. Sam Darnold USC highlights still make the rounds for good reason.

He redshirted in 2015, then took over in 2016 after USC started 1-2. The Trojans didn’t lose again that season, and Darnold finished with 3,086 yards and 31 touchdowns. He capped it with a 52-49 Rose Bowl win over Penn State, throwing for 453 yards and five touchdowns, and became the first freshman to win the Archie Griffin Award. A solid 2017 followed – 4,143 yards, 26 touchdowns, a Pac-12 title, and a Cotton Bowl loss to Ohio State – and he declared for the draft in January 2018. His Sam Darnold college numbers add up to 7,229 yards and 57 touchdowns in two seasons as a starter.

Sam Darnold’s Draft: Class of 2018

The Sam Darnold draft story is one of the most famous of the modern era. The Jets took him third, right behind Baker Mayfield at No. 1 and Saquon Barkley at No. 2. That Sam Darnold draft pick came with a four-year, $30.25 million fully guaranteed rookie deal, and he later became the youngest opening-day starting quarterback since the 1970 merger at 21 years and 97 days old.

The Sam Darnold draft class was loaded at quarterback: Mayfield first, Darnold third, Josh Allen seventh, Josh Rosen tenth, and Lamar Jackson 32nd. Darnold was the first of that group to win a Super Bowl as a starter, a strange twist for the player once written off as the class bust.

Sam Darnold Teams & Dates Joined

The full list of Sam Darnold teams runs five deep in nine seasons. This Sam Darnold dates joined table shows when each chapter began.

Team	Years	How He Joined
New York Jets	2018 to 2020	Drafted No. 3 overall (April 2018)
Carolina Panthers	2021 to 2022	Trade from Jets (April 2021)
San Francisco 49ers	2023	One-year deal (March 2023)
Minnesota Vikings	2024	One-year, $10M deal (March 2024)
Seattle Seahawks	2025 to present	Three-year, $100.5M deal (March 2025)

Sam Darnold’s Jets Years (2018 to 2020)

The Sam Darnold Jets era never matched the hype. He started 38 games over three seasons, threw 45 touchdowns against 39 interceptions, and the team went 2-14 in his final year. Part of the problem was the roster around him, but turnovers and injuries played a role too.

Still, the Sam Darnold Jets tape is better than the reputation. He opened his career with two touchdowns in a 48-17 win over Detroit, threw a 92-yard touchdown in 2019, and earned AFC Offensive Player of the Week that October. New York traded him to Carolina in April 2021 for a sixth-round pick and second- and fourth-round picks in 2022.

Sam Darnold 49ers and Panthers Years

In Carolina he threw for 2,527 yards in 2021 before a fractured scapula put him on injured reserve, then lost the 2022 starting job to Baker Mayfield. He still had a 341-yard, three-touchdown game against Tampa Bay late that year.

The Sam Darnold 49ers season in 2023 was quiet but important. Darnold has said the Sam Darnold 49ers year changed how he prepares, thanks to Kyle Shanahan’s attention to detail and Purdy’s approach.

Sam Darnold’s Vikings Breakout (2024)

The Sam Darnold Vikings season is where everything flipped. He signed for $10 million, became the starter after J.J. McCarthy’s preseason injury, and led Minnesota to a 14-3 record. He finished with 4,319 passing yards, 35 touchdowns, 12 interceptions, and a 102.5 passer rating, all career highs, and he made his first Pro Bowl.

The ending hurt. Minnesota lost the regular-season finale to Detroit with the top seed on the line, then lost 27-9 to the Rams in the wild-card round as Darnold took nine sacks. Even so, the Sam Darnold Vikings year is the missing piece of his redemption arc.

Sam Darnold Seahawks Era (2025 to Present)

Signing in Seattle in March 2025 turned out to be the best decision of his career. The Sam Darnold Seahawks partnership clicked right away. Seattle went 14-3, earned the No. 1 seed in the NFC, and Darnold became only the second quarterback with back-to-back 14-win seasons after Tom Brady. He completed 67.7 percent of his passes for 4,048 yards and 25 touchdowns, though his 20 total turnovers led the league.

For 2026, Sam Darnold Seahawks fans got a new offensive coordinator in Brian Fleury after Klint Kubiak left to become the Raiders’ head coach. It’s his seventh different play caller, but the scheme is close to what Kubiak and Kyle Shanahan ran.

Sam Darnold Stats: Career Numbers by Season

Year	Team	GP/GS	Cmp/Att	Pct	Yards	TD	INT	Rating
2018	Jets	13/13	239/414	57.7	2,865	17	15	77.6
2019	Jets	13/13	273/441	61.9	3,024	19	13	84.3
2020	Jets	12/12	217/364	59.6	2,208	9	11	72.7
2021	Panthers	12/11	243/406	59.9	2,527	9	13	71.9
2022	Panthers	6/6	82/140	58.6	1,143	7	3	92.6
2023	49ers	10/1	28/46	60.9	297	2	1	85.1
2024	Vikings	17/17	361/545	66.2	4,319	35	12	102.5
2025	Seahawks	17/17	323/477	67.7	4,048	25	14	99.1
2026*	Seahawks	3/3	45/69	65.2	560	6	3	101.1
Career	–	103/93	1,811/2,902	62.4	20,991	129	85	86.8

*Through Week 4 of the 2026 season.

Add it up and Sam Darnold career stats sit at roughly 21,000 passing yards and 129 touchdowns, plus 1,078 rushing yards and 14 rushing scores. Those Sam Darnold career numbers look very different split in half. His first six years produced a middling résumé, while the last two full seasons delivered 4,000-yard campaigns with a passer rating near 100. The Sam Darnold career arc really is two stories.

Sam Darnold’s Passing Yards Per Game & Game Log

In 2025 he averaged about 238 yards per game, and the Sam Darnold passing yards per game number in 2026 sits near 187 across three appearances. That’s lower mostly because Seattle has leaned on the run – Emanuel Wilson carried 21 times against the Chargers – while his efficiency has held at 8.1 yards per attempt. His best single-game Sam Darnold passing yards total came in 2024, when he threw for 377 against Green Bay.

Here’s the Sam Darnold game log through four weeks.

Week	Opponent	Result	Cmp/Att	Yards	TD	INT
1	vs Patriots	W 13-10	1/2	13	0	0
2	at Cardinals	W 31-7	Did not play	–	–	–
3	at Commanders	L 33-31	31/45	379	4	2
4	vs Chargers	W 30-23	13/22	168	2	1

The Sam Darnold game log tells the story: Week 1 ended almost before it began, Week 3 was a shootout he nearly won, and Week 4 was a quiet, efficient win.

Darnold Super Bowl Run

The Sam Darnold Super Bowl journey started with a 41-6 divisional rout of the 49ers, his first career playoff win. Then came a 31-27 NFC Championship victory over the Rams, with 346 yards and three touchdowns, and a date with the Patriots in Super Bowl LX on 8 February 2026 at Levi’s Stadium.

Sam Darnold Super Bowl Stats

The Sam Darnold Super Bowl stats won’t jump off the page: 19 of 38 for 202 yards and one touchdown, a 16-yard strike to tight end AJ Barner early in the fourth quarter. But Seattle sacked Drake Maye seven times, Jason Myers kicked a Super Bowl-record five field goals, and Kenneth Walker III ran for 135 yards and won MVP. Seattle won 29-13.

Darnold also became the first quarterback in NFL history to win a Super Bowl after playing for five teams. After leading the league in turnovers during the regular season, he finished the postseason without a single one.

Sam Darnold Super Bowl Status

The Sam Darnold Super Bowl status heading into this season is simple: reigning champion. Seattle held its parade at Lumen Field on 11 February, and Darnold and Katie celebrated with fans.

Sam Darnold Playoff Record

The Sam Darnold playoff record is 3-1, with a lone loss in the 2024 wild-card round and three wins in the 2025 postseason. Across four games he has 917 yards, six touchdowns, and one interception. That Sam Darnold playoff record helps explain why his NFL Top 100 ranking jumped so high this summer.

Sam Darnold Seeing Ghosts & the Mono Meme

You can’t tell this story without the two memes. That Sam Darnold mono meme resurfaced right after Seattle won the NFC Championship.

The second came in October 2019 on Monday Night Football. Mic’d up during a 33-0 loss to the Patriots, he was caught saying he was seeing ghosts, and the Sam Darnold seeing ghosts clip went viral. Jacksonville even trolled him with a mascot in a ghost outfit. The Sam Darnold ghosts jokes lasted years, but a Super Bowl ring tends to quiet them. When someone searches Sam Darnold mono today, they’re mostly after the meme, and the same goes for Sam Darnold seeing ghosts.

Sam Darnold’s Injury History: Is Sam Darnold Injured?

So, is Sam Darnold injured right now? As of 5 October 2026, there’s no reported injury designation for the Seahawks quarterback. He’s healthy after a short Sam Darnold injury scare to open the season, which is why people keep asking is Sam Darnold injured.

In the opener against the Patriots, he took a sack on the fifth play and left with a glute injury, first described as a hip issue. He missed Week 2 at Arizona, returned for Week 3 at Washington, and played all of Week 4.

The wider Sam Darnold injury history includes a foot injury in 2018, mono in 2019, shoulder problems in 2020, a fractured scapula in 2021, a high ankle sprain in 2022, and an oblique issue he played through in the 2025 playoffs. Another Sam Darnold injury would hurt, since Drew Lock is the only real alternative. So again, is Sam Darnold injured? Not at the moment.

Sam Darnold Contract & Salary

Here’s the Sam Darnold contract in plain terms. He signed a three-year deal worth $100.5 million in March 2025, with $55 million guaranteed and a $32 million signing bonus, an average of $33.5 million per year.

Detail	Amount
Total Value	$100.5 million (3 years)
Guaranteed	$55 million
Signing Bonus	$32 million
2026 Base Salary	$12.3 million
2026 Cap Hit	About $37.9 million
2027 Base Salary	$25.3 million

The $15 million 2026 roster bonus guaranteed shortly after the Super Bowl, locking in this year’s Sam Darnold salary. General manager John Schneider has a policy of not extending players with more than a year left, but he said he wants Darnold in Seattle for a long time. The Sam Darnold contract talk will heat up next offseason, and the Sam Darnold salary should jump with it.

Sam Darnold Net Worth

Celebrity Net Worth’s January 2026 update puts the Sam Darnold net worth at around $45 million. That figure comes from his $30.25 million rookie deal, his 2024 Vikings contract, and the Seahawks money, and his career cash earnings are already past $100 million. However you count it, the Sam Darnold net worth number is likely to keep climbing.

Sam Darnold Wife: Katie Hoofnagle

After years of questions about his love life, the Sam Darnold wife answer is simple: Katie Hoofnagle. The couple went Instagram official in June 2023, and fans labeled her the Sam Darnold girlfriend for a while before she became a Sam Darnold fiance in July 2025. They met at a bar in Charlotte through a mutual friend while Darnold was with the Panthers, according to People.

So is Sam Darnold married? Yes. They married on 3 April 2026 at Rancho Valencia Resort & Spa in Rancho Santa Fe, California, with 227 guests at a black-tie event. Josh Allen and his wife Hailee Steinfeld attended, along with Christian McCaffrey and his wife Olivia Culpo. For anyone searching Sam Darnold wedding details, the guest list read like a Pro Bowl roster.

The Sam Darnold wife and kids question comes up a lot too, and the couple hasn’t publicly announced any children.

Sam Darnold Fantasy Football Outlook

For managers, Sam Darnold fantasy value has been up and down. Against Washington in Week 3 he finished as the week’s QB2 with 379 yards and four touchdowns, though two interceptions capped the ceiling. In Week 4 he scored twice on 168 yards because Seattle ran 33 times.

The Sam Darnold fantasy projection for Week 5 is a solid QB2. San Francisco averages almost 33 points per game, so Seattle may need to throw more, which would help Sam Darnold fantasy owners, especially with Jaxon Smith-Njigba, who led the league in receiving yards through three weeks.

Sam Darnold News & Latest Updates

Here’s the latest Sam Darnold news as of 5 October 2026. Seattle beat the Chargers 30-23 in Week 4 to improve to 3-1. Darnold threw for 168 yards and two touchdowns, including a 23-yard screen to Wilson and a six-yard strike to Tory Horton, and he threw one early interception.

Why is Sam Darnold trending? The Week 5 matchup with San Francisco is the biggest reason, since it’s the first meeting after Seattle’s playoff rout. The Sam Darnold trending chatter is also split between a hot team and a fan base that wants fewer turnovers. The rest of the Sam Darnold news cycle has been positive. He was ranked No. 21 on the NFL Top 100 of 2026, ahead of Lamar Jackson, Justin Herbert, Joe Burrow, Caleb Williams, and Dak Prescott, and any new Sam Darnold news before Sunday will likely come from the injury report.

Seahawks vs 49ers Week 5 Prediction

Seattle hosts San Francisco on Sunday, 11 October, at 4:25 p.m. ET at Lumen Field. The Seahawks (3-1) are roughly 3-point favorites with a total near 46.5 to 47, while the 49ers arrive 4-0 after beating Denver. Moneylines sit around Seahawks -165 and 49ers +135.

Factor	Seahawks	49ers
Record	3-1	4-0
Points Per Game (through Week 3)	25.0	32.7
Points Allowed (through Week 3)	16.7	16.7
Pass Defense, yds/game (through Week 3)	141 (1st)	207 (14th)

Brock Purdy has thrown nine touchdowns through three games, and George Kittle already has three scores. But Seattle’s pass defense leads the league, and the Seahawks have beaten San Francisco twice in a row, including the 41-6 playoff game.

Prediction: Seahawks 24, 49ers 21. Expect Darnold to throw for around 230 yards and two touchdowns, with Wilson and rookie Jadarian Price handling the run game. It should be close, and Seattle’s defense might be the difference.

Best Top Players in Seahawks vs 49ers

Player	Team	Why He Matters
Jaxon Smith-Njigba, WR	Seahawks	No. 5 on the NFL Top 100, 1,793 receiving yards in 2025, six touchdowns through three games
Sam Darnold, QB	Seahawks	No. 21 on the Top 100, Super Bowl LX champion
Devon Witherspoon, CB	Seahawks	Pro Bowl in each of his first three years
Ernest Jones IV, LB	Seahawks	No. 97 on the Top 100
Emanuel Wilson, RB	Seahawks	21 carries in Week 4 plus a rushing and receiving touchdown
Brock Purdy, QB	49ers	Nine touchdown passes in three games
George Kittle, TE	49ers	Three touchdowns, 174 yards through three games
Christian McCaffrey, RB	49ers	Three touchdowns, 166 rushing yards

Smith-Njigba signed a four-year, $168.6 million extension, so he’ll be Darnold’s top target for years. With Kenneth Walker III now in Kansas City, Seattle is leaning on Wilson and a committee of backs.

Sam Darnold Playing Style: What Makes Him Different

Darnold isn’t known as a dual-threat quarterback, but he moves better than people assume. He has a strong arm, good anticipation, and thrives when play action is working. Under Kubiak and now Fleury, the system creates easy throws and leans on the run game.

His weakness is turnovers. His 14 interceptions in 2025 were third-most in the NFL. But his playoff decision-making was spotless, and teammates say his even demeanor after bad games is a big reason Seattle trusts him.

Sam Darnold’s Legacy So Far

Step back and his career splits in two. The first is the third overall pick who struggled in New York, lost a job in Carolina, and sat behind Brock Purdy in San Francisco. The second is the quarterback who won 14 games in back-to-back seasons for two different teams, beat the Rams in an NFC title game, and lifted the Lombardi Trophy. Whether you came for the Sam Darnold stats, the Sam Darnold contract, or the Sam Darnold grandfather trivia, the best part is that the story is still being written.

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