Sam Darnold is a Super Bowl champion. But the Seattle Seahawks quarterback doesn’t look back on his individual performance in Super Bowl LIX too fondly. Sam Darnold is the first QB in the class of 2018 to win a Super BowlGettyIn a recent appearance on the Bussin With The Boys podcast, Darnold expressed his disappointment over how he played in the biggest game of his career in a 29-13 victory over the New England Patriots. “I didn’t play great in the Super Bowl. I missed way too many throws. We still won, our defense balled out, and I didn’t turn the ball over, which helped,” Darnold admitted. “But dude, to win the Super Bowl that way, I was kinda bummed. I want to score like 40 points, you know what I mean? I want to go out there and ball out. “And it’s just, ‘dang, I didn’t play my best football in the Super Bowl?’ That sucks.”In the contest, the veteran signal caller completed just 19-of-38 passing for 202 yards and a touchdown, with running back Kenneth Walker shouldering much of the offensive load and exploding for 135 rushing yards from 27 attempts, which was enough for him to be named MVP. With the Seahawks’ victory, Darnold became the first quarterback of the 2018 NFL Draft class to lift the Vince Lombardi Trophy – a stacked QB class which included Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, and former No. 1 overall pick Baker Mayfield. While an argument could be made that Darnold always had it in him, having been drafted by the New York Jets with the third overall pick behind only Mayfield and running back Saquon Barkley, his career didn’t begin as planned. The former USC star spent the first three seasons of his career in the New Jersey, where he racked up a 13-25 losing record, and threw 45 touchdown passes to 39 interceptions. With the ‘bust’ label beginning to form around him, Darnold was traded to the Carolina Panthers, where he started 12 games in the 2021 season, but was demoted to backup following the Panthers’ acquisition of Mayfield from the Cleveland Browns. Making just six more appearances due to an injury to his teammate, it looked as though Darnold’s career as a starter was over, and a brief one-year stint with the San Francisco 49ers in 2023 continued to fuel this narrative. Darnold was drafted by the NY Jets with the No. 3 overall pick in the 2018 NFL DraftGettyAlthough he only saw the field once in a 49ers uniform, Darnold credits his time there for how his career has since transpiredGettySan Francisco was the turning point of Darnold’s NFL careerDespite only starting one game for the Niners, which came in Week 18 against a Carson Wentz-led Los Angeles Rams outfit, Darnold attributes a lot of his development from that point forward to being in Santa Clara, California. “I think for me, it was … looking at myself in the mirror and just being like, ‘alright, this is what I need to do this year. I’m not going to get an opportunity to get a starter,’” Darnold said of his time with the Niners. “And I think going to San Francisco, I mean, shoot, you guys saw what Mac Jones did this year. I understood that quarterbacks in that system, quarterbacks with Kyle [Shanahan] — you look at Brock [Purdy] and all the success he’s had there — quarterbacks just thrive in that system. It’s also because they have really good players.“But, just getting to know that system and getting to know those coaches, like that’s really why I decided to be a backup in San Francisco. I thought that would be the best place to just go. And people say it all the time, and I’ve heard it, but I feel like I got my PhD in football when I went to San Francisco.”Darnold then swapped the West Coast for the Midwest, penning a one-year, deal with the Minnesota Vikings in 2024. The Vikings had just drafted J.J. McCarthy and were looking for a veteran mentor for him to learn from, except the Michigan Wolverines national champion suffered a season-ending injury during the pre-season. Darnold (R) was expected to be QB2 and a mentor behind rookie J.J. McCarthy (L)GettyWith the door wide open to a starting role, Darnold made the most of the opportunity that presented itself, and completed a then-career-high 66.2 percent of his passes for 4,319 yards and 35 touchdowns to just 12 interceptions. The Vikings went 14-3, which was only enough to lock up the No. 5 overall seed in the NFC, and they would go on to be eliminated by the No. 4 Rams in the Wild Card round of the 2024 playoffs. Darnold has identified key areas for improvement in 2026Nonetheless, teams around the league were interested in Darnold after a strong regular-season showing, and Seattle presented a lucrative three-year, $100.5 million contract for him to become their new starting QB following the trade of Geno Smith to the Las Vegas Raiders. Nobody could perhaps predict, though, that the 14-3 Seahawks would go on to win the Super Bowl, at least not before the 2025 regular season got underway. Despite entering the 2026 season as defending champions, Darnold feels that there is still so much more of his game that he needs to improve upon. “I think the biggest thing is continuing to build off of my weaknesses, understanding what I wasn’t great at this past year, which I think for me is continuing to hone in on the deep ball, understand how I can be better that way, quieting my feet in the pocket,” the 29-year-old said. Darnold led Seattle to a 14-3 record in the 2025 regular season, before leading them to their first Super Bowl since 2013getty“I feel like I’m a little twitchier — sometimes that wants to creep in a little bit when I’m in the pocket — so being able to calm my feet down, just going through my progressions. …“Another area to grow is the turnovers. I thought I had too many turnovers last year, so just continuing to — kind of like I did in the playoffs — continuing to have the right mindset on first and second down, keep the big boys happy and get the ball out of my hands.”If only the Jets had been more patient, then they may have had an elite-caliber player on their hands to help them end their 15-year playoff drought. As of now, though, they have gone full circle and brought back Geno Smith to become their starter, a season after he led the NFL in interceptions, and won just two games under center in the Sin City. Stay up to date on all things NFL across our talkSPORT platforms – subscribe to our YouTube channel for the latest news, opinion, exclusive interviews and our daily unfiltered, unscripted show ‘The S* Word, from 8am ET.