Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold leaves game with a hip injury in NFL opener

Darnold threw for 4,048 yards and 25 touchdowns last season while leading Seattle to the Super Bowl.

Seattle Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold’s 2026 season debut lasted just one drive before a hip injury knocked out the Super Bowl champion.

Darnold injured his right hip, and there is no timetable for his return, the team announced.

Facing the New England Patriots in the NFL’s season-opening primetime game — a rematch of February’s Super Bowl — Darnold was playing only his fifth snap when he was sacked on the opening drive and hobbled off the field, though he did not require assistance to reach the sideline.

After he was evaluated in a privacy tent on Seattle’s sideline at Lumen Field, he underwent X-rays in the locker room and was listed as questionable, and he was later ruled out for the game.

ESPN reported that a CT scan on Darnold’s hip returned “inconclusive” and that he was scheduled for an MRI on Thursday. Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald told reporters that the team had received “great news back” from Darnold’s scan, suggesting that a fracture had been ruled out.