Overview
- Darnold exited the season opener after a sack on Sept. 9 and has been diagnosed with an unusual soft-tissue injury to his right glute; scans showed no damage to the hip bone.
- Head coach Mike Macdonald confirmed on Wednesday that Darnold will not play against the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday and that the team does not plan to put him on injured reserve.
- The decision to avoid injured reserve signals the Seahawks expect a short-term absence because IR would require a minimum four-game miss under NFL rules.
- Drew Lock, who completed 16 of 22 passes for 187 yards and a touchdown in relief in Week 1, will start with Jalen Milroe as the active backup and could see situational snaps.
- The team has sought outside medical opinions and is monitoring Darnold daily, has not pursued an external quarterback in recent tryouts, and an erroneous AI notification on X/Grok claiming a four-week absence drew fan and reporter criticism.