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By Cole Sullivan
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The Seattle Seahawks punched their ticket to the Super Bowl after defeating the Los Angeles Rams 31-27 in the NFC Championship Game last weekend.
Seattle will face the New England Patriots in a rematch of Super Bowl 49, which ended in heartbreaking fashion for the Seahawks.
However, this version of the Seahawks is very different from that team, led by entirely new players and coaches — most notably star quarterback Sam Darnold, whose NFL journey has been one of the league’s most remarkable stories since he was drafted third overall by the New York Jets in 2018.
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Darnold has been on five teams in eight years and at times looked unlikely to get another legitimate shot. That changed when he started last season for the Minnesota Vikings, leading them to the postseason.
Despite his success, Minnesota chose not to offer him a long-term deal in free agency. Seattle did, and now Darnold is making his first Super Bowl appearance as a starter — with a notable fan in Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.
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On Wednesday’s episode of the New Heights podcast, co-hosted by the Kelce brothers, Travis had some strong words about Darnold’s path.
“So happy for that dude, man,” Kelce said. “His ability to take that heat from everybody and still be the calm, cool, collected cat that he is, the confident guy that he is in his abilities … I’ve always been a big fan of his, man.”
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NFL legend Michael Strahan, who appeared as a guest on the podcast, also shared his thoughts and offered words of encouragement about Darnold’s journey.
"I played in New York. It's hard, man," Strahan said on the podcast. "And he comes in here as the third overall pick, it doesn't go well, goes to the Jets, gets beat down mentally, physically, and then five teams in eight years and everyone thinks he's washed. Then he goes to Minnesota, plays well last year, but they get beat in the playoffs, and everyone's like, 'He's done. This guy can't play. Why did Seattle pay him all this money?' Well, now you know."
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