Screaming horde for Seahawks Super Bowl champ star Sam Darnold at Raising Cane’s
Marshawn Lynch advised current and future Seahawks to “take care y’all’s chicken” as his NFL exit a half dozen years ago.
Six years later, Sam Darnold took him up on that. Literally.
One day after being honored with his teammate and Super Bowl Most Valuable Player Kenneth Walker at Disneyland, the Seahawks’ newly minted Super Bowl-champion quarterback got more rock-star treatment Tuesday in the University District of Seattle. Darnold starred as the celebrity chicken-finger cooker, server, cashier and presenter at a “soft opening” for a new Raising Cane’s fast-food chicken joint two blocks west of the University of Washington.
The clamoring for him showed Sam Darnold is the Pacific Northwest’s, and football nation’s, newest superstar.
Two days after Darnold led his Seahawks to a 29-13 domination of the New England Patriots in Super Bowl 60 in Santa Clara, California, fans began lining up along Northeast 45th Street starting at University Avenue in Seattle at 9 a.m.
Darnold did not arrive until 3.
By the time he did, the roaring crowd chanting “SEA! HAWKS!” snaked down blocks west and south along Brooklyn Avenue, plus on both sides of NE 45th and both sides of “The Ave.” Officers from the Seattle Police Department, the Washington State Patrol and a private security company kept the estimated 1,000 people behind ropes and out of the Raising Cane’s.
Some waited seven hours outside on the 50-degree day for Darnold to talk to them for about 3 minutes. That was from a makeshift platform just outside the Raising Cane’s, along the sidewalk.
Darnold pumped his right first as college-aged kids screamed and chanted “SEA! HAWKS!” some more.
“I’m going to try to talk here a little bit,” Darnold shouted into a microphone, trying to be heard over the noise.
“YOU WON ME A HUNDRED DOLLARS!” a young man on the edge of the street yelled back. A guy in a white Seahawks number-55 Brian Bosworth throwback jersey nodded his approval as he filmed Darnold with his smart phone from just in front of the QB.
“You guys waiting out here — I know some of you have been waiting out here since 9 a.m. waiting to see us and see me here at this Raising Cane’s — I appreciate you, man,” Darnold said, wearing a Raising Cane’s shirt and cap. “I appreciate you!”
More roars.
“Thank you all for showing so much love. Not just right now, but throughout the entire season. On behalf of me, on behalf of myself and the entire team, man, we just want to thank you guys
“Oh, man, to be a Super Bowl champion for this city, for this franchise, for this organization, it means the world, man. Wouldn’t want it any, other way.”
Yet more roars. Darnold flashed a thumbs-up.
The 28-year-old Pro Bowl quarterback who signed with Seattle last spring after the team traded his predecessor Geno Smith to the Las Vegas Raiders repeated his season-long message of belief.
An executive from Raising Cane’s, headquartered in Baton Rogue, Louisiana, asked Darnold about being on his fifth team in eight NFL seasons. The Jets, Panthers and Vikings gave up on him. The 49ers had him a backup to Brock Purdy for the 2023 season.
“Just stay close to the ones that believe in you,” Darnold said.
They cheered him eating--through a window
Inside, Darnold did more than an hour of promotional spots. He staged cooking and serving of chicken fingers and Texas toast from behind the counter. He ate chicken and pointed to the roaring fans out on the street. They were climbing light poles, bus signs and electric boxes—to watch him eat. “I love Raising Cane’s,” Darnold said at one point. “It’s my cheat meal on the weekend.”
He claimed he ate Raising Cane’s on Seahawks road trips. Those include catered meals—and, for some players, late-night DoorDash orders to the team hotel.
Some players from the University of Washington’s football team joined Darnold Tuesday for a group photo. Darnold introduced himself to each of them, giving each Husky a bro hug.
The newest Raising Cane’s will open in Seattle’s U District in about 10 days.
When it ended, Darnold walked out to The Ave., to more cheers. He walked around the back of and into the back, drivers-side seat of a matte-black Audi RSQ8, list price: $140,000, stripped.
“MOVE!” the security officers yelled to the fans shoving their camera phones into the windshield and side windows of the luxury SUV.
“MOVE!”
This story was originally published February 11, 2026 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Screaming horde for Seahawks Super Bowl champ star Sam Darnold at Raising Cane’s."
