After a career-changing year with the Minnesota Vikings in 2024, Sam Darnold signed a three-year $100.5 million contract with the Seattle Seahawks during free agency last year.
Darnold was considered a “bust” early in his career after the 2018 first-round pick flamed out with the New York Jets. After stints with the Carolina Panthers and San Francisco 49ers, Darnold has gone 28-6 in his last two seasons and won the Super Bowl with the Seahawks in February.
That means Darnold should be set for a considerable pay raise during the 2027 offseason.
In response to a fan’s question on what Darnold could sign for next year, Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated thinks what the Tampa Bay Buccaneers do with Baker Mayfield could influence the deal Darnold is offered. Darnold could make approximately $60 million per season.
“Mayfield’s in the final year of a three-year, $100 million deal with the Buccaneers now, likely, I’d say, to get something close to the top of the quarterback market with Tampa before Week 1,” Breer wrote.
“And if he gets $55 million or $60 million per year, then that would frame where Darnold would be going into his contract season next year with a Super Bowl already under his belt.”
After winning the Super Bowl, Darnold should be set to make more than Mayfield. Darnold is younger (29) than Mayfield (31).
With that being said, Breer’s estimate for Mayfield is higher than what some in the league think he’ll get. An NFL general manager told Jason La Canfora of SportsBoom that Mayfield would be lucky to earn $30 million per season.
“No one is looking at Baker Mayfield and saying that guy is taking us to the Super Bowl,” the quarterback-needy GM told La Canfora.
“He’ll be 32 (if he hits free agency), he’s been injured, this will be his fifth team, is it? If he can get a coupla more years at $30 (million a year), he should take it.”
Regardless of what Mayfield is paid on his next contract, Darnold’s next deal will be costly for the Seahawks. If Darnold can keep Seattle in the Super Bowl conversation, the pay raise will be more than worth it.
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