Seahawks not considering QB change amid Darnold’s struggles

The Seattle Seahawks are not considering benching starting quarterback Sam Darnold amid his recent rash of turnovers, head coach Mike Macdonald told Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk on Friday morning.

“No, no,” Macdonald said when asked if the team was considering making a quarterback change.

Seahawks QB Sam Darnold: Turnovers ‘not fair’ to defense

Darnold has thrown seven interceptions in five games this season, which is tied with the Los Angeles Chargers’ Justin Herbert and the New England Patriots’ Drake Maye for the most in the NFL.

All seven of Darnold’s interceptions have come since he returned in Week 3 from a glute injury. Seattle has gone 1-3 over that span, with Darnold throwing two interceptions apiece in the three losses. His latest two-interception game came in a 17-14 loss to the Denver Broncos on Thursday night, which included a costly pick in overtime that set up the deciding field goal.

Darnold ranks 24th out of 30 quarterbacks in ESPN’s QBR metric and has completed just 60.4% of his passes for 1,033 yards and seven touchdowns. Among 31 qualified quarterbacks, he has the second-highest interception rate (4.7%) and ranks 17th in yards per attempt (6.9) and 25th in completion rate (60.4%).

Meanwhile, backup quarterback Drew Lock completed 72.9% of his passes for 422 yards, four TDs and no interceptions in nearly two full games of fill-in duty after Darnold got injured on the opening series of the season. Seattle went 2-0 in those two games.

Macdonald believes the Seahawks’ turnover problems are a team-wide issue. Seattle’s rushing attack has struggled this season and Darnold has been under heavy pressure, taking five sacks in back-to-back games.

“We have a great backup quarterback in Drew,” Macdonald said. “Drew is a tremendous quarterback. He’s a starting-level quarterback, and (I understand) that we didn’t turn the ball over when Drew played, and then we’ve had takeaway issues (with Sam).

“But right now, I think these things we have to attack as if they’re in our control, and then we can move it forward. Sam’s played great football for us this year the majority of the time, and there’s other times where, and he’ll be the first to tell you, he needs to take care of the football.

“But I think these are solutions that we can find with Sam as our quarterback. I believe that.”

Mike Macdonald joins Brock and Salk on the day after Seahawks games at 9:30 a.m. for The Mike Macdonald Show. Listen to the full conversation at this link or watch the video at the top of this story. Tune into Brock and Salk weekdays from 6 to 10 a.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app.

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