By Mazvita Maraire Posted on

Mike Macdonald on Sam Darnold, “ A  great leader who is tough as nails, “ 

Thursday was a good day for Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald and General Manager. Macdonald introduced $100 million-dollar Sam Macdonald to the staff and media. Offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak joined Macdonald in the press conference. In his introduction of Darnold, Macdonald beamed about his new quarterback’s on-field and off-field attributes.

“ First of all, he’s just a tremendous human being. A great leader. We have a lot of people in our building that have a history with Sam and have a lot of respect for him as a person, as a leader, and as a football player. Just a heck of a player. Just tough as nails from my opinion. Really excited to get our relationship started and to get to introduce him to the rest of the team and the city and the 12s,’ said Macdonald.

FAMILIARIATY WITH KUBIAK

 Kubiak and  Darnold were both with the Niners when they made their Super Bowl run in 2023. Kubiak was the team’s passing game coordinator, and Darnold backed up Brock Purdy. That connection made it easy for Darnold to sign with the Seahawks.

“It was definitely one of the things that I factored into signing here, and again, just being able to work with Klint, and having talk with Klint a ton in San Francisco about kind of what we liked, disliked, said Darnold. “ We have so much in common when it comes to football, and yeah, just very pumped to get this thing going. “

PIVOT TO DARNOLD

  According to McDonald, the Seahawks turned to Darnold after it became apparent that Geno and the team were destined to separate.

“I would say like once we decided to make the move with Geno (Smith), understanding who was out there, definitely Sam became the No. 1 focus pretty quickly. “ As for how the wheels turned for the Seahawks to sign  Darnold, Macdonald said the wheels turned rather quickly.

“ It was an interesting series of events for sure. When it became apparent that we were going to have to pivot away from Geno, then you know, definitely hoping that it was going to land with Sam. There was some time there. Everyone involved in the process was awesome. John (Schneider) was awesome. Joey (Laine) was awesome. All of our pro personnel people were on it. Just really fortunate that it worked out the way it did. And there’s some great quarterbacks out there that we looked into but really apparent that Sam was our guy. “

PLENTY OF WORK AHEAD

Now that the Seahawks have their guy behind center, there is still a lot of work to be done. One move the team made to bolster the offensive line was the signing of Josh Jones a five year utility lineman from the Baltimore Ravens. Jones played just 47 snaps last year with time being split between right tackle and left tackle.  Jones will not be the Seahawks’ only addition to the offensive line.   A wide receiver, defensive line, and a linebacker are other priority needs for the Seahawks.

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