{"id":683710,"date":"2026-01-17T07:28:42","date_gmt":"2026-01-17T07:28:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/683710\/"},"modified":"2026-01-17T07:28:42","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T07:28:42","slug":"seahawks-remaining-positive-that-sam-darnold-will-play-against-49ers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/683710\/","title":{"rendered":"Seahawks remaining positive that Sam Darnold will play against 49ers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sam Darnold might be OK after all.<\/p>\n

Just one day after Darnold\u2019s name surprisingly appeared on the Seahawks\u2019 injury report<\/a>, head coach Mike Macdonald remains \u201creally optimistic\u201d that his quarterback will be healthy for Saturday\u2019s NFC divisional round playoff matchup against the 49ers.<\/p>\n

\u201cTalking about Sam, I heard what he said yesterday to you guys; I see it the same way,\u201d Macdonald told reporters Friday. \u201cWe\u2019re listing him as questionable. Really optimistic he\u2019s going to be able to play. Right now we\u2019re going through all the protocol \u2026 just out of caution to make sure we\u2019re ready to go. <\/p>\n

\"SeattleSeattle Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold smiles after an NFL football game against the San Francisco 49ers in Santa Clara, Calif., Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026. AP<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll test it out tomorrow and kind of make the final decision, but again, we\u2019re optimistic he\u2019s going to play.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, Macdonald did allude to the possibility of Darnold missing the game, saying that backup QB Drew Lock will be ready if needed.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf he doesn\u2019t, or at some point he doesn\u2019t, then [Drew Lock is] ready to go, and that\u2019s why Drew\u2019s here. He\u2019s doing a great job,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, it was revealed that Darnold had an oblique injury and was listed as questionable for the game, with the 28-year-old telling reporters that he \u201cfelt a little something\u201d during practice. He remained confident that he would not miss any time.<\/p>\n

\"SamSam Darnold and head coach Mike Macdonald of the Seattle Seahawks look on during the second quarter against the Los Angeles Rams at SoFi Stadium on November 16, 2025 in Inglewood, California. Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201c[I] just kind of felt a little something in my oblique [and] just didn\u2019t want to push it,\u2019\u2019 Darnold told reporters Thursday. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t the day to push it, so that was it. So, [I] just came inside, got some rehab and feel like I\u2019ll be ready to go for Saturday.\u201d<\/p>\n

During the Seahawks\u2019 walk-through on Friday, Darnold and Lock were walking through plays on the field, but the two-time Pro Bowler was seen only making underhand throws.<\/p>\n

Macdonald also said Darnold felt physically better on Friday compared to the day prior.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, he says he feels better,\u201d Macdonald said. \u201cBut you talked to him. He\u2019s confident that he\u2019s going to be able to play. We feel the same way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Darnold, who threw for 4,048 yards with 25 touchdowns through 17 games this season in Seattle, is still searching for his first playoff victory, with the ex-Jet losing his first career postseason game last season as a member of the Vikings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sam Darnold might be OK after all. Just one day after Darnold\u2019s name surprisingly appeared on the Seahawks\u2019…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":683711,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2081],"tags":[7,6,84,6718,1878,252,238,237,261,2635,9],"class_list":["post-683710","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-seattle-seahawks","tag-football","tag-nfl","tag-nfl-playoffs","tag-quarterbacks","tag-sam-darnold","tag-san-francisco-49ers","tag-seahawks","tag-seattle","tag-seattle-seahawks","tag-seattleseahawks","tag-sports"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115909264038240216","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/683710","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=683710"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/683710\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/683711"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=683710"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=683710"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=683710"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}