Seattle Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold will miss the team's Week 9 matchup against the Arizona Cardinals due to a quad injury, head coach Mike Macdonald announced. Backup Drew Lock will make his second start of the season in Darnold's place.
Lock is also dealing with an elbow injury that will be monitored throughout the week. The Seahawks have Jalen Milroe as Lock's backup. "He's able to throw. How much, we're working through that right now," Macdonald said about Lock.
The Seahawks are coming off a 34-17 loss to the Chicago Bears on Monday night, where Darnold completed 17 of 34 passes for 188 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. Lock started one game earlier this season when Darnold was sidelined by a soft-tissue injury suffered during the Week 1 victory against the New England Patriots. That start also came against the Cardinals in Arizona, where Lock completed 19 of 26 passes for 235 yards and three touchdowns in a 31-7 victory. The Seahawks out-gained the Cardinals 381 yards to 151 yards, while Jaxon Smith-Njigba caught nine passes for 155 yards and three touchdowns.
Darnold has struggled since Seattle's Super Bowl run last season. He is 3-4 as the starter this season, averaging 211 passing yards per game with 10 touchdowns and nine interceptions. Darnold's 23 interceptions since 2025 are tied for the most in the NFL, and his -0.67 EPA per dropback when pressured ranks last in the league.
Analyst and former NFL quarterback Ben DiNucci suggested that Lock might give the 4-4 Seahawks a better chance to win. "Drew Lock might give the Seattle Seahawks a better chance to win at the quarterback position," DiNucci said.
This season, Lock has a 73% completion percentage, 8.8 yards per attempt, a 4-0 touchdown-to-interception ratio, and a 127.3 passer rating, compared to Darnold's 60% completion, 7.0 yards per attempt, 10-9 TD-INT, and 79.5 rating.
Lock, a former second-round pick of the Denver Broncos in the 2019 NFL Draft out of Missouri, is 11-18 in his career as a starter. He originally came to Seattle in 2022 as part of the Russell Wilson trade, spent the 2024 season with the New York Giants, and returned to Seattle to back up Darnold.
The Cardinals are also making a quarterback change, as offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur has benched Jacoby Brissett for Gardner Minshew. Minshew threw three touchdowns in the fourth quarter against the Dallas Cowboys last week to erase a 14-point deficit and win in overtime, 33-30.
