Better of Sam Darnold at Tremendous Bowl LX Media Day

Sam Darnold is grateful that he gets the opportunity to start his first Super Bowl on Sunday, when his Seattle Seahawks play the New England Patriots at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara.

But he is a little disappointed that he won’t be able to watch Bad Bunny’s halftime show.

“I love his music,” Darnold said during NFL Super Bowl LX Media Night on Monday. “It’s great to have him perform at the Super Bowl. I wish that I could see it, but I’m afraid I’ll be getting ready for the second half at that moment.”

This isn’t Darnold’s first Super Bowl. The 28-year-old was on the San Francisco 49ers‘ roster for Super Bowl LVIII, but he didn’t play a snap as the backup to Brock Purdy. Now the leading man in Seattle, Darnold believes that his journey in the NFL has prepared him to compete for his first Vince Lombardi Trophy.

“I take every experience as its own, no matter what happens,” Darnold said. “I was really blessed to be able to get drafted to the Jets. Obviously, things didn’t work out the way that I wanted them to there.”

The New York Jets drafted Darnold with the third overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft, but New York decided to move on from him in 2021 after 38 appearances and a 13-25 record. Five years and four teams later, Darnold feels as though he’s found a home with the Seahawks.

“I would have loved to get drafted to New York and have that be my home for 20 years, but it just didn’t work out that way,” Darnold said. “Same thing in Carolina and San Francisco. That was a great place for me to learn. In Minnesota, I feel like I had a really great opportunity with really good players and really good coaches to show not people, but show myself what I can do on a football field and I think people saw that. 

“Seattle, right when I got here, it felt like home, and it feels like home. I’m just so thankful for John and Mike believing in me and all of the players in that locker room for believing in me. For me to just be able to go out there and do nothing more than my job on every single play. That’s a very secure feeling as a quarterback.”

He also doesn’t mind the food scene in The Emerald City.

“I’m a little bit of a foodie, trying all of these different spots in Seattle,” Darnold said. “Those are the main two things: food and golf.”

The Seahawks and Patriots will kickoff at 6:30 p.m. ET on Sunday.