Sam Darnold

Sam Darnold finished 2025 as the number 14 quarterback in total fantasy points and the number 25 quarterback in points per game — and that gap is the whole story. He played all 17 games for a 14-and-3 Super Bowl winning team, threw for over 4,000 yards, and ranked as one of the most efficient passers in football. In fantasy terms? Volume-light, touchdown-modest, occasionally turnover-prone, hanging in the low-end-starter tier because he never missed a Sunday. Seattle built around a punishing two-back committee and a target-hog number one receiver in Jaxon Smith-Njigba — Darnold was the conductor, not the engine. He flashed real ceiling when the deep ball connected, but stacked enough single-digit duds to drag his per-game number into the basement of starting quarterbacks.

Now let's dig into the numbers, because the real-football Darnold and the fantasy Darnold lived in two different neighborhoods. He completed 67.7 percent of his 477 attempts for 4,048 yards, 25 touchdowns, and 14 interceptions. His adjusted net yards per attempt of 7.4 ranked fourth among qualified passers, and his completion percentage over expected sat at plus 4.3 — also fourth in the league. Genuinely elite passing efficiency. The fantasy profile killed it: 12th in passing touchdowns despite that efficiency, almost nothing on the ground with 95 rushing yards and zero rushing scores across 17 games, and boom-or-bust week to week. He averaged 13.8 points per game but posted single-digit outings in seven of 17 starts, including a 4.3-point disaster against the Rams in Week 11 where he threw four interceptions. The ceiling games were real — 27.6 against Tampa Bay, 27.2 at Washington, 22.3 at Atlanta — but they were islands in a sea of 8-to-16-point afternoons.

One play captures the season. Week 5 against Tampa Bay, fourth quarter, 3:25 left, fourth-and-2 from the Buccaneers' 21, tie game at 28. Out of no-huddle, Darnold dropped a 21-yard touchdown to Tory Horton down the left side — a fourth-down score worth more than four expected points. That was his four-touchdown, 27.6-point ceiling game, the night the efficiency numbers screamed loudest. Seattle still lost 38 to 35. Darnold still threw a pick. Brilliant, productive, a little messy around the edges — the season in one snap.