RENTON, Wash. -- Seattle Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold will be playing for his sixth offensive coordinator in as many seasons in 2026 after Seattle hired Brian Fleury to replace Klint Kubiak. But the new playcaller isn't installing an entirely new playbook, and Darnold is happy about not having to start from scratch.
"Thankfully it hasn't been too much of a transition," Darnold said Wednesday following an OTA practice while speaking to local reporters for the first time since Seattle won Super Bowl LX on Feb. 8.
Under Fleury, who spent the past seven seasons as an assistant with the San Francisco 49ers, the Seahawks will run a version of coach Kyle Shanahan's offense. It'll be similar to what they ran last year under Kubiak, another Shanahan disciple.
"It's a lot of the same stuff [with] Fleury obviously coming from San Francisco, but a couple different wrinkles here and there," Darnold said. "So it's been good that way to be able to get some of that same verbiage but just a couple different wrinkles."
Not since his New York Jets days has Darnold played for the same coordinator in consecutive years, but even that comes with a caveat. Head coach Adam Gase called the plays in 2019 -- the quarterback's second NFL season -- then relinquished those duties to OC Dowell Loggains in October of 2020.
With the Carolina Panthers, Darnold's coordinators were Joe Brady and Jeff Nixon in 2021 and Ben McAdoo in '22. Darnold backed up Brock Purdy with the 49ers in 2023 before his Pro Bowl breakthrough in 2024 with the Minnesota Vikings under head coach Kevin O'Connell and OC Wes Phillips.
Darnold made his second straight Pro Bowl with the Seahawks last season under Kubiak, who was hired as the Las Vegas Raiders' head coach a day after the Super Bowl.
"Going all the way back ... to Carolina with McAdoo, a little bit of a transition to Shanahan's system in San Francisco, and then we did a lot of the same things in San Francisco to Minnesota," Darnold said. "Minnesota [then] coming here was back to the Shanahan kind of verbiage with Klint. And then this year it's more of the same. So it's been really good to have that kind of familiarity, not only for myself but for the other guys as well."
Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald was seeking continuity for Darnold and the rest of Seattle's offense when he set out to replace Kubiak. He interviewed four in-house candidates, initially thinking he was likely to hire from within, before Fleury won him over in the interview process.
When asked at his introductory press conference what his offense looks like, Fleury replied, "It looks very similar to the one that just won the Super Bowl."
Fleury has a varied background as a college quarterback who has coached all three phases of the game, including the last four seasons as the 49ers' tight ends coach (he added the title of run game coordinator in 2025). He's also worked in football research. This will be his first playcalling stint.
"Fleury has been great," Darnold said. "His command, his presence, the way that he installs it with the run game, pass game, his command over the entire system has been incredible ... [To] be able to learn each other, kind of what he's thinking in calling it and just continuing to get a feel for each other, it's been really good so far."
Darnold didn't get to know Fleury all that well in 2023 while both were in San Francisco. In the five weeks since he's been back at Seahawks headquarters for the voluntary offseason program, Darnold has learned that his new coordinator shares something other than an offensive scheme with his predecessor, describing Fleury as having a similar demeanor as Kubiak.
"He's really stoic," Darnold said. "I think that's one thing that really stands out. His standard's really high for our group, not only for us but for himself as well. So that's one thing that is great to see in a coordinator, is the standard being what it is, and that if it ever drops, he's going to hold us to a high standard and he's not let us stoop down to a certain level knowing that we can continue to rise and continue to get better, especially during this time. So he's been great."
Asked about what life has been like as a Super Bowl-winning quarterback, Darnold said "nothing has really changed" other than getting recognized in public a little more.
How about life as a now-married man?
"That actually hasn't really changed much either," said Darnold, who wed Katie Hoofnagle in April. "It's been great. Though, just to be able to be married to my best friend. There is nothing in the world like it."