When the Seattle Seahawks replaced Geno Smith with Sam Darnold, there were rightfully a lot of questions from 12s and national pundits. After all, Darnold had had one good season out of seven in his career, while Smith had been a productive but limited QB1 for three seasons in Seattle.
In Week 1, Smith got a victory with his new team, the Las Vegas Raiders, while Darnold and the Seahawks lost to the San Francisco 49ers. Darnold wasn't bad, however. The offensive scheme was conservative; no receivers other than Jaxon Smith-Njigba were getting open, and the running game was invisible.