Seahawks’ Sam Darnold reveals the mental health aspect to his career turnaround

With the Seattle Seahawks having a Super Bowl win this past season, it was helped by the production and turnaround of quarterback Sam Darnold’s career. As the Seahawks go through OTAs to prepare for the upcoming season, Darnold would reveal what sparked a bounce back in his career.

The tides shifted for Darnold as, besides showing flashes in his initial years, his 2024 season with the Minnesota Vikings saw more consistent play, leading to a change with Seattle. Darnold was on “Green Light with Chris Long” and said that a sports psychologist made him have an epiphany about his career.

“A sports psychologist that I met with, actually, before my season in Minnesota, put it the best,” Darnold said. “And he was like, ‘At this point in your career, you’ve developed such a great base and a great foundation for your house.’ He’s like, ‘It’s time to start painting the house and using a brush, you need to kind of tell yourself that you know you’re really good and you deserve to be here…that was kind of like a weird, like, I didn’t know if it took like the analogy or what it took for me, but that was kind of the weird unlock for me.”

Sam Darnold credits a sports psychologist for the mental “unlock” that helped him get to the next level pic.twitter.com/wOB8HxchyO

— Green Light with Chris Long (@greenlight) May 28, 2026

Seahawks’ Sam Darnold speaks on the advice that helped him

That reassurance from Darnold made him have a successful season with Seattle in his first season, throwing for 4,048 yards to go along with 25 touchdowns and 14 interceptions, helping lead a team effort to a Super Bowl win.

“I do deserve to be here, I’ve played really good football in the league, albeit not as consistent as I would have liked, but mistakes happen…especially in this league,” Darnold said to Long. “I’ve always been like super hard on myself…that is never going to like leave…and so I think being easier on myself and essentially like telling myself that I’m good, you know. I think that’s really helped me the last couple years to build confidence.”

Darnold and Seattle look to keep the winning ways going, as the team looks for a second straight Super Bowl this fall.

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