Sam Darnold is a career quality starter — a quarterback whose body of work places Darnold in the top quarter of all players at the position historically. The Knox model values sustained contribution over flash, and Darnold's career arc reflects exactly that kind of reliable professional-grade performance.

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QBSEA#14ACT

Sam Darnold

2× Pro BowlTop 25% all-time QBsHigh-End Starter⚡ Breakout · 2024 🏆 Clutch · +10% playoffs 📈 Late Developer · 2024Two-Way Profile

Career Value · VORP

112 career value over replacement — #996 all-time of 4,695. 14/season above a replacement-level QB.

Career Profile

3 top-10 seasonstop-10 marks 2-phase playertwo-way

Draft OutcomeMiss ↓

Pick #3 (Rd 1) · NYJ · 2018 · -8.3 vs expected KV-H

55actual

63.3 expected · Δ−8.3

Fan Rating

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Compare Sam Darnold vs Player Report data error

Height6'3"

Weight225 lb

BornJun 5, 1997

Age29

CollegeUSC See College Stats

Rookie yr2018

Draft2018 · Rd 1, Pick 3 · NYJ

Team Carrier Evidence

Ranked #465 of 568 by seasons where high individual production happened on low-win teams. Score aggregates only tracked StatVault categories.

Full board

Total Score

1 qualifying season

2018 NYJ·4 team wins#23

Passing Yards · 2,865 · score 9

All-Time Standing

how this career measures against the all-time greats at the position

Depth

of 100

Reached 24% of the all-time Passing Yards leader — a rotational/depth all-time profile at the position.

24% of the all-time Passing Yards leader24

0 categories ≥25% of the all-time leader0

A 0–100 scale where 100 = matched the all-time leader at this position. Built only from visible encyclopedia data — career production vs. the all-time leader, plus efficiency (EPA) and comparable-player confidence — so it's a transparent context score, not a subjective rating. Tiers: Elite ≥ 85 · Strong ≥ 65 · Solid ≥ 45 · Depth < 45. Comparable-player confidence: 90%.

Encyclopedia Coverage7/8 data layers

StatVault aggregates multiple open-licensed and proprietary sources into a single profile. The depth indicator above shows which layers are available for this player.

Bio & DraftBirth date, height/weight, draft round/pick, college — sourced from nflverse players.csv (CC-BY 4.0). Covers all NFL eras.

Season Stats (1999–present)Week-by-week box scores aggregated to season totals: passing, rushing, receiving, defense. Source: nflverse player_stats. Counting stats are exact; rates are derived.

Advanced (EPA, 1999–present)Not available for this player

Snap Counts (2012–present)Offensive, defensive, and special-teams snap counts with team-share percentages. Essential for OL and situational players. Source: nflverse snap_counts.

Where this data comes from

Modern-era stats (1999+) come from nflverse's open data releases. Pre-1999 seasons are backfilled additively from Wikipedia and NFL.com's own official season pages — never from rights-restricted sources.

nflverse — CC-BY 4.0 — attribution required
Wikipedia — Facts extracted under Feist v. Rural Telephone; courtesy CC-BY-SA attribution
NFL.com — Official league site; facts extracted under Feist, courtesy attribution

Methodology · Trust Center

Career Aging Trajectory

vs. position group average · KV-H basis

Amber = this player (normalized to own peak). = average QBs aging curve. Group peak age: 24. Source: StatVault KV-H era (1999+).

Combine · 2018

Percentiles compare each raw measurement against position peers, the full combine pool, and the same draft class where enough samples exist.

QB · 2018 class

4.85s

40-Yard

Below avg · 37th pct

Pos 37thAll 33thClass Pos 50thClass All 30th

26.5"

Vertical

Low · 6th pct

Pos 6thAll 7thClass Pos 14thClass All 10th

105"

Broad Jump

Playoff vs Regular Season

🏆 Playoff Performer

Passer Rating: 86.0 regular season → 94.9 playoffs (2 playoff seasons)

+10%

vs reg season

Career Milestones8

Major career thresholds crossed, derived from regular-season totals (1999+).

20181K career passing yards
20195K career passing yards
201925 career passing TDs
202110K career passing yards
202150 career passing TDs
202520K career passing yards
2025

Understanding These Stats

Passing

Cmp / Att — Completions and pass attempts.

Cmp% — Completion percentage — completions ÷ attempts × 100.

Yds — Passing yards — total air + yards after catch on completions.

TD / TD% — Passing touchdowns. TD% = TDs per 100 attempts, measuring scoring efficiency.

Int / Int% — Interceptions thrown. Int% = INTs per 100 attempts — the primary ball-security metric.

Y/A — Yards per attempt — passing yards ÷ attempts. The core passing efficiency rate.

AdjY/A — Adjusted yards per attempt: (Pass Yds + 20×TD − 45×INT) ÷ Att. Penalizes turnovers and rewards touchdowns — widely considered the most predictive single-season QB metric.

TD:INT — TD-to-interception ratio — passing touchdowns ÷ interceptions thrown. Elite QBs sustain career ratios above 3.0; HOF greats often exceed 4.0. Not shown when no interceptions.

Rate — NFL passer rating — the official formula combining Cmp%, Y/A, TD%, and INT% on a 0–158.3 scale. Good QB performance ≈ 90+; elite ≈ 110+.

Sk — Times sacked — how many times the QB was brought down behind the line of scrimmage.

Postseason Career

4 playoff games

Passing

Cmp81Att131Cmp%61.8%Yds917TD6Int1TD%4.6Int%0.8Y/A7.0

College Stats

USCCollege listed; stat table pending import

College stats are not imported for this profile yet.

StatVault has the verified college attribution (USC), but no parsed college box-score table is present in this profile artifact. The section stays here so every profile has a consistent college-stats landing point without fabricating unavailable rows.

Reference Graph

Career teammates and draft class, derived from year-by-year rosters — every name is linked.

Top Teammates

Frankie LuvuLB5y Leonard WilliamsDE4y Robbie ChosenWR4y Henry AndersonDE4y

Franchise Succession

the room, before and after

Sam inherited the Seattle Seahawks QB room from Geno Smith (2020–2024), and holds it as the most recent the corpus records.

Jim Zorn 1976–1984Dave Krieg 1980–1991Warren Moon 1997–1998Matt Hasselbeck 2001–2010Russell Wilson 2012–2021Tom Brady 2014

Similar Players

Statistical + physical similarity across every player in the database, position-relevant (0–100%).

Movementderived from season history

2026final season
Last recorded season with SEA
2025team change
Joined SEA (from MIN)
2024team change
Joined MIN (from SF)
2023team change
Joined SF (from CAR)
2021team change
Joined CAR (from NYJ)
2018draft
Drafted by NYJ — Round 1, Pick 3

Athletic & Unique Profile

verified measurements and curated source-tagged facts

6'3" / 225 lb

Frame

221 lb at 4.85s

Size-speed

26.5" vert / 105" broad

Explosion

Knox

StatVault's proprietary player intelligence, informed by full career data. How Knox works →

Historical Knox · KV-H

Era-normalized career quality — z-scored against 8-season peers. See all →

peak 63

Season Report Cards· KV-H era-normalized per season

C+2018

C+2019

C2020

C2021

F2022

F2023

B+2024

B2025

Availability

Career durability — games played vs. scheduled, across 9 seasons.

70%

Era Translator

Pass Yds translated to the 2025 NFL — each season's standing among its own-era peers, projected onto 2025's scoring environment. Modern-era (1999+) coverage.

Season	Actual Pass Yds	Pass Yds/G	→ 2025 Pass Yds	→ 2025 /G
2018	2,865	220.4	3,385+520	199.1
2019	3,024	232.6	3,618+594	212.8
2020	2,208	184	2,932+724	172.5
2021	2,527	210.6	3,383+856	199
2022	1,143	190.5	3,197+2,054	188.1
2023	297	29.7	722+425	42.4
2024	4,319	254.1	4,272-47	251.3
2025	4,048	238.1	4,048	238.1

Data: nflverse:players, nflverse:player_stats, nflverse:snap_counts, nflverse:combine, nflverse:draft_picks, nflverse:player_stats_def · multi-source verified via the StatVault Oracle · updated 10/19/2026

Defensive StatsMaterial defensive production only: playmaking stats, 10+ tackles, or 50+ defensive snaps. Source: nflverse player_stats and snap_counts.

College StatsCollege attribution is present, but this profile artifact does not yet carry a parsed college stat table.

NFL Combine / Pro Day40-yard dash, vertical, broad jump, 3-cone, shuttle, bench press. Source: nflverse combine.csv.

Proprietary LayersKV-H (Knox Value-Historical) — era-normalized career rating 0–100 calibrated within position group (1999+ coverage). SIS (Snap Impact Score, 2012+) — per-snap production z-scored within position. VORP — value over replacement player. Durability IQ — games-played percentile adjusted for era.

Pre-1999 players have bio + draft data but counting stats are not available from any freely-licensed source. Players with ★ Career Only see verified career aggregates from nflverse draft_picks.

Pos 18thAll 15thClass Pos 27thClass All 15th

6.96s

3-Cone

Strong · 76th pct

Pos 76thAll 76thClass Pos 71thClass All 65th

4.40s

Shuttle

Below avg · 34th pct

Pos 34thAll 43thClass Pos 38thClass All 43th

100 career passing TDs

20251K career rushing yards

Rushing

Att — Rushing attempts (carries).

Yds — Rushing yards.

TD — Rushing touchdowns.

Y/A — Yards per carry — rushing yards ÷ carries. The core rushing efficiency rate; 4.5+ is solid, 5+ is elite.

TD% — Touchdown rate per carry (TDs ÷ carries × 100) — measures scoring efficiency per touch independent of volume. Red-zone workhorses lead here.

1D — First downs gained on rushing plays.

1D% — First-down conversion rate (first downs ÷ carries × 100) — how often a carry moves the chains. Top RBs convert on 25%+ of attempts.

Fmb — Rushing fumbles lost — the key ball-security stat for running backs. Below 1 per season is elite.

Defense

Tkl / Solo / Ast — Combined tackles (Solo + ½ Assist). Solo = unassisted. Ast = helped by a teammate.

TFL — Tackles for loss — stops made behind the line of scrimmage (run stuffs + QB contain).

QBHits — QB hits — any legal contact on the quarterback, including but beyond sacks (hurries that land).

Sk — Sacks — tackled the QB behind the line for a loss. Half-sacks shared between defenders.

Dis — Disruption plays = sacks + QB hits + TFL. The composite pass-rush / run-stop impact stat for one season. Elite pass rushers post 30+ disruption plays per season.

Int — Interceptions caught by this defender.

PD — Passes defended — deflections and breakups.

FF / FR — Forced fumbles (stripped or jarred loose). Fumble Recoveries.

TD — Defensive touchdowns — picks, fumble returns, safeties returned.

Sfty — Safeties — tackled the ball carrier in their own end zone.

Snap Counts (2012–present)

Off / Off% — Offensive snaps played and share of team total. The most reliable usage metric for skill positions and OL.

Def / Def% — Defensive snaps played and share of team total.

ST / ST% — Special-teams snaps played and share of team total.

Proprietary StatVault Metrics

KV-H (Knox Value-Historical) — Era-normalized career rating 0–100 within position group, calibrated so a 50 = average starter and 90+ = all-time great. Covers 1999–present. Built on a 5-year IQR/robust-std era window.

SIS (Snap Impact Score) — Per-snap production z-scored within position group and era (2012+). Measures how much a player produced per opportunity, not raw volume.

VORP (Value Over Replacement) — Sum of max(0, season KV-H − positional replacement level) across a career. Measures career value above the minimum-roster baseline at each position.

Durability IQ — 0–100 score reflecting how many games a player played relative to peers at the same position in the same era. Adjusts for injury-shortened seasons.

Rushing

Att9Yds33Y/A3.71D51D%55.6

Sam Darnold 2025–2026

The room is reconstructed from arrival order among durable members (≥4 seasons with the club) at the player’s position group — a lineage by arrival, not a week-by-week depth chart. Distinct from the league-wide positional GOAT torch.