Sam Darnold Camp Update — August 16: Five Touchdowns, Two Picks, Zero Game Snaps

Back on August 8, Seattle's twelfth camp practice, Sam Darnold threw five touchdowns on nine attempts in 11-on-elevens and also threw two interceptions, to Drake Thomas and Nehemiah Pritchett, per Michael Hanich at SI's All Seahawks. Two days later he hit Jaxon Smith-Njigba for a long touchdown over Devon Witherspoon, per John Boyle at seahawks.com. Saturday he didn't take a snap: Drew Lock started the preseason opener, Dallas won 17 to seven, and Bob Condotta of The Seattle Times reported the starters are being pointed at the regular-season opener against New England rather than heavy preseason work.

The June preview's argument was about base rates. Last season says Darnold is a steady pocket passer — a 68 percent completion rate, 25 touchdowns, 4000 yards, all 17 starts for the champions — and one Minnesota season says he has a higher gear that has appeared exactly once. We projected continuation: the steady version, not the spike, with the returning scheme and receivers as a sturdy floor. Nothing about a championship parade changed the math.

A camp week like this one is the base rate in miniature. Five scores on nine throws is the good version; two picks in the same session is the tax; the deep ball to Smith-Njigba is the connection that makes the whole offense go. None of it is game evidence, and Seattle seems inclined to give us little of that before September — worth knowing if you expected a preseason tune-up to grade him by.

Does the June read hold? UNCHANGED — the projection was the steady pocket passer inside a continuity offense, and a boom-and-bust practice week inside that same offense moves nothing. Next week: whether Mike Macdonald gives the first offense any series at all in the second preseason game, and if not, we settle in for September, where the completion percentage is the first thing we check. We'll check next Sunday.

_Data via nflverse._