Darnold Is Back on the Active List. Now We Find Out What He Missed.

Sam Darnold is active. The grounding confirms it — he's off the injury report, the glute issue that knocked him out no longer carrying a designation. After Drew Lock held the job for at least two weeks, the quarterback situation in Seattle has its answer, at least for now.

The question that follows is a practical one: how much did the offense lose in the stretch he was out? Lock managed to win a game — I noted that much when it happened — but the coverage around that win was cautious for good reason. Darnold's 2025 was the best football of his career, 4,720 yards and 30 touchdowns over a full season, and the offense was built around his comfort with Jaxon Smith-Njigba and the timing that comes from a full year together. That's not something a backup replicates in a week or two, no matter how the results look on the scoreboard.

Zach Charbonnet remains out, and Anthony Bradford is on injured reserve, so Darnold is stepping back into an offense that has absorbed some hits since he left. The receiving weapons are intact — Smith-Njigba, AJ Barner, the tight end room — but the line situation and the backfield depth are thinner than they were in January. Whether Darnold can pick up where he left off, or whether he needs a game or two to shake off the rust, is the thing worth watching over the next couple of weeks.