Sam Darnold had an elite quarterback whisperer as his head coach with the Minnesota Vikings. Kevin O’Connell brought out the best in the former USC Trojan. Darnold also had Justin Jefferson to catch passes. Darnold had a great situation, but the Vikings are riding with JJ McCarthy now. Darnold was signed by the Seattle Seahawks and will play for a defense-first head coach, Mike Macdonald. Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times laid out the task for Darnold as the Seahawks prepare for preseason training camp:

“Darnold is the big X Factor in this Seahawks season. The defense seems primed to build on last year’s solid finish and allow them to be competitive every week. The question is if Darnold and the offense can uphold their end as the Seahawks move on from Geno Smith and break in a rebuilt receiving corps and master a new scheme implemented by first-year coordinator Klint Kubiak. Darnold’s 2024 breakout season with the Vikings gave evidence that maybe he can live up to his status as the third overall pick in the 2018 draft. Still, doubts remain, based in part on his struggles as a starter with the Jets from 2018-20.

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“Darnold may not play much in the preseason with his status as the starter secure. But the Seahawks will hope for a lot of consistent practices — as well as largely turnover-free ones — for Darnold to gain confidence in the system heading into the season, and for his new teammates to gain the same confidence in him.”

It is true that Darnold doesn’t need to play that much in the preseason. The Seahawks need to have a full and fierce battle for their No. 2 spot. They need to see what Jalen Milroe can do and give him live preseason reps. Darnold probably won’t play more than one full half in any preseason game, but he will need to make his reps count so that in Week 1, his relationship with Jaxon Smith-Njigba and other Seattle receivers is rock-solid. There’s a lot of work for Sam Darnold to do, even though he won’t get most of the available snaps in the NFL preseason.

This article originally appeared on Trojans Wire: Sam Darnold enters his first Seahawks training camp facing questions