The Seattle Seahawks have reason to be relieved after their season-opening win over the New England Patriots, but the mood around Sam Darnold is less positive. Ian Rapoport reported on Sunday that the quarterback is expected to miss probably a couple games after suffering what he described as a glute injury.
That leaves Seattle facing NFL Week 2 without the player it wants under center, even if the initial fear around the injury has eased a little. The Seahawks still managed to finish the win over the Patriots with Backup Drew Lock and the defense doing enough to protect the result, but the next stretch now looks more complicated.
How serious is the injury?
Rapoport suggested the issue is not major, but it is serious enough to keep Darnold out for more than just a brief spell. He said the team had been calling it a hip injury, before adding: “My understanding is that it's actually a glute injury.”
He also put it more bluntly: “So Darnold hurt his butt.” The key detail for Seattle is that he described it as “a muscular injury not considered to be major,” which offers some encouragement even if the recovery will still remove him from the lineup for now.
What comes next for Seattle?
If that timeline holds, the Seahawks are expected to play the Arizona Cardinals and the Washington Commanders without Darnold. That makes the short-term picture simple enough: Seattle will need to lean on Backup Drew Lock again while hoping the defense can keep the team steady.
The Seahawks won their opener despite losing their starting quarterback on the team’s opening possession, so there is already evidence they can survive a difficult stretch. But they will want Darnold back sooner rather than later, because the margin for error tightens quickly once the games start arriving in succession.
