Sam Darnold is preparing to lead the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl LX with the chance to complete his comeback story.

Before he put up gaudy numbers with the Minnesota Vikings last season and helped turn the Seahawks into championship contenders this year, Darnold’s NFL future seemed grim.

The No. 3 pick of the 2018 NFL draft by the New York Jets was 13–25 across three seasons before he was traded to the Carolina Panthers. His Jets legacy lives on as an injury meme. His two seasons in Carolina didn’t fare much better, and by the time he was a backup with the San Francisco 49ers, it seemed as though he was destined to be a bust. What a difference two years can make as Darnold’s teams have gone 28–6 in the last two seasons.

Darnold was asked about his time with the Jets and Panthers during an appearance on The Dan Patrick Show this week, and the veteran quarterback offered a mature outlook on the struggles that came with them.

“The days in New York, the days in Carolina – those were part of my journey, and they’re part of my experience – and I loved every single part of it.”

– Sam Darnold on his NFL journey. pic.twitter.com/jXrfsFSCxc

— Dan Patrick Show (@dpshow) January 30, 2026

“I think just being able to handle it at this point in my career, too, I feel like, even mentally, I handle it a little differently internally than I used to. Because I realize it is part of the journey and it is part of who I am,” Darnold said. “I paid a little bit more attention to it. I invested a little more thought into what happened in the past.

“Like, ‘okay, I threw this pick against this coverage back in 2019, I’m not going to do that again.’ It’s like, no, sometimes mistakes happen. You learn from it, and you don’t want to make the same mistakes again, but sometimes throughout your career, especially if it’s a long career, those things are going to happen.

“But just being able to move on and learn from those experiences, but move on. And the days in New York, the days in Carolina, those were part of my journey, and they’re part of my experience, and I loved every single part of it. Yeah, there were some lows that sucked, I’m not gonna lie to ya, and that’s part of it though. I learned so much from that, and I’m able to move on.

“It’s funny, after every single game we lost, or things that didn’t go well, I was able to wake up the next day and see the sun rise and go into the building and see my teammates and have fun with my coaches. That’s a part of life, and I think being able to realize that at this point in my career, it allows you to take it one day at a time and enjoy every single little moment that you get with your teammates, because as we all say, we’re never with the same team year-in, year-out. You may be with some similar guys if you stick with the same team, but there’s never all 70 that are the same throughout a season, so you try to enjoy it while you can.”

Darnold will no doubt try to enjoy the build-up to Super Bowl LX on Feb. 8, when he and the Seahawks take on the New England Patriots.