Salk: How Sam Darnold’s absence will impact his Seahawks future

Sam Darnold is going to miss some time and Drew Lock is going to play. Obviously that’ll have a significant effect on this year’s Seattle Seahawks team and on Drew Lock’s future.

But what about Sam Darnold’s future?

Does Sam Darnold injury open door for Jalen Milroe to play?

For all of the conversation around Sam Darnold, there’s never been a control group. We don’t know what this Seahawks team would look like without him. Well, what if Drew Lock comes out here and wins three straight games and plays great?

Obviously Sam will take his job back at the end. He’s not going to get Wally Pipped here. He’s not going to lose his job.

But at the end of this year, when they start talking about a contract negotiation, how important would it be to pay Sam $55 million, $60-plus million a year if you’re able to do some of the same things with someone like Drew Lock under center?

And conversely, if Drew really struggles here over the course of three or four games as a starter, does it put Sam even more in the driver’s seat in those negotiations, seeing that the team was not nearly the same offensively without him as it is with him in there?

NFL insider: ‘At least a chance’ Darnold plays in Week 3

Obviously, we’re going to learn about Drew Lock, and for his sake, I hope he’s able to parlay this into a late career resurgence a la Sam Darnold, a la Geno Smith, a la Baker Mayfield, a la Daniel Jones. Maybe he can do that with a couple of really strong starts and parlay it into something else next year.

But for Sam – look, I know he’s rooting for Drew. I don’t think this is running through his head right now. But eventually this will be part of the conversation as we all debate Sam’s future at the end of this season.

This article is a transcript of the video at the top of the post. It is edited for clarity. Catch Mike Salk weekdays from 6-10 a.m. on Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk.

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