What does Seahawks' Sam Darnold have to prove after Super Bowl win?

RENTON - The national narrative sounds silly now.

When Sam Darnold descended on Seattle last offseason, he did so with a cloud of caveats hanging over his head.

He can't win the big one. He can't be "the guy." He can't beat pressure, literal or metaphorical. He can't succeed outside of Minnesota Vikings coach Kevin O'Connell's orbit. He can't, can't, can't.

Then he did.

Which must have made the Seahawks' Super Bowl victory even sweeter.

This was an emphatic exorcism. After Darnold threw for 346 yards and three touchdowns in an NFC Championship Game win, roasting the rival Rams, defiant Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald said: "Everybody wants to make a narrative about this guy, but he's been the same guy since he walked in the door. You don't want me writing the stories, because I would not write the narratives that are out there. I'd be really boring.

"I'd be like, ‘This guy's the man, and his teammates love him, and he's competitive as crap, and he's tough, and he's really talented, and he's a winner.' That would be the story. So don't let me write the story."

There's a new story now.

It sounds a lot like Macdonald's suggestion. It's undeniable. Darnold threw five touchdown passes without a turnover in the playoffs, as Seattle incinerated everyone in its way. With a dominant defense and difference-making special teams, Darnold wasn't superhuman. He didn't need to be. He was competitive and tough and talented. He was a winner. He was all the things his critics swore he couldn't be.

Now, the 29-year-old Super Bowl champion stands on the other side. The doubt cloud has dissipated. Darnold has earned respect, and a ring, which he received Thursday. He returns alongside wide receivers Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Rashid Shaheed and Cooper Kupp, tight end AJ Barner and Seattle's entire starting offensive line.

What does he have left to prove?

Nothing.

And everything.

Because titles are not transferable. Seasons can't be copied, pasted and repeated. There are new questions now. Darnold must again conquer the rebuilt Rams, who added NFL sack king Myles Garrett and cornerback Trent McDuffie this offseason. And Darnold must do so with another new offensive coordinator, as former 49ers tight ends coach Brian Fleury succeeds Klint Kubiak, now the Las Vegas Raiders' coach.

A year ago, Darnold's transition to Seattle was smoothed by his shared history with Kubiak in San Francisco. And though the 47-year-old Fleury is installing essentially the same system, he has yet to call plays on any level.

Considering Super Bowl MVP Kenneth Walker III's departure, Zach Charbonnet's torn ACL and first-round pick Jadarian Price's inexperience, the Seahawks' running back situation is unstable. The importance of Fleury and Darnold's partnership cannot be overstated, and their ability to bring the best out of each other is not a guarantee.

Likewise, can Fleury and Darnold bring the best out of Shaheed? Though the former Saints speedster made an immediate impact on special teams after being traded to Seattle in November, his presence was lacking in the pass game. After logging 44 catches for 499 yards and two touchdowns in nine games for New Orleans last fall, Shaheed mustered just 15 catches for 188 yards and zero scores in nine more games for Seattle.

Darnold's connection with Smith-Njigba, the reigning NFL Offensive Player of the Year, is both proven and prolific.

But unlocking Shaheed could take the Seahawks' offense to another level.

"I feel like we're good," Darnold said last week of his chemistry with Shaheed. "We're just continuing to learn each other - not only for me and [Shaheed], but me and (Smith-Njigba), (Kupp), (Jake) Bobo, Cody White. We've just got to continue to get these reps, because they're so valuable.

"With only having a few practices left in OTAs, and then when you look at it on a calendar, how few practices you get in training camp and how many reps you get, you really have to value these reps. So I think our guys really understand that."

Darnold definitely does. During Wednesday's minicamp walk-through inside the Virginia Mason Athletic Center, the Seahawks quarterback sailed a pass just wide of Smith-Njigba. In a baseball cap and T-shirt, with a dangling earpiece to receive Fleury's play calls, he dropped his head in disgust. It didn't matter that the Seahawks were moving at half-speed, without contact or pads or significant stakes. It didn't matter that, minutes earlier, regulars Derick Hall, Devon Witherspoon and Uchenna Nwosu shot hoops on a sideline basket during a special-teams drill. It didn't matter that the Super Bowl rematch against New England remained three months away.

It didn't matter that, supposedly, Darnold has so little left to prove.

It's an encouraging sign that his hunger is still the same.

"I get recognized a little bit more, I guess," Darnold said of how his life has changed. "But shoot, for me, nothing's really changed, other than getting married. That was pretty cool. But nothing's really changed for me in the way I work, the way our entire locker room is. Nothing changes that way."

Nothing has changed. Only the narrative.

There's a new one now.

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