Drew Lock's long and winding road back to starting at QB for Seahawks

RENTON, Wash. — No matter what else happens, Drew Lock will always have a spot in Seahawks history as the quarterback they received as part of the Russell Wilson trade.

Lock was one of three players and five draft choices who came to Seattle from Denver on that momentous date of March 8, 2022.

The team regarded Lock as more than just a throw-in.

Among the many questions hurled at Pete Carroll that day was if he felt the Seahawks could win a championship with Drew Lock.

“If he plays like he did early on, I think we’ve got a shot, Carroll said, noting how Lock led Denver to a 4-1 record in the final five games of his rookie season in 2019, including becoming the first rookie in the Super Bowl era to pass for more than 300 yards (309) and three touchdowns in his first road start (a 38-24 victory over a strong Houston Texans team).

“We think he’s still that guy," Carroll said. “And so we’ll see."

Four years, one head-coaching change and one sojourn to New York later, Lock might finally get a chance to prove Carroll right, even if the coach is no longer with the team.

If Seahawks starting quarterback Sam Darnold misses a game or two with a muscle injury in his hip sustained Wednesday in the season-opening 13-10 victory over the New England Patriots, then Lock will get the start Sept. 20 at Arizona and maybe beyond.

The Arizona game would be just his third start as a Seahawk and his eighth overall since 2021 in a career that hasn’t gone the way Lock anticipated when Denver made him the 42nd overall choice of the 2019 draft out of Missouri. He was the fourth quarterback selected.

"I’ve gained a couple patches on the armor," Lock said once last year when asked about a career that has featured just 28 starts in eight NFL seasons.

He professed no regrets.

“Looking back at every decision made in all of my football career I’m happy about all of them," he said recently. “I’ve learned from them all."

Those decisions included signing a one-year contract with the Giants in 2024 after he’d started just two games across two seasons in Seattle after losing a battle for the starting job to Geno Smith in 2022.

That defeat came with an asterisk. Lock got COVID before he was scheduled to start the second preseason game against the Bears in 2022 and that was his chance to overtake Smith, who had been the leader throughout camp in the competition to succeed Wilson.

Lock returned for the final preseason game at Dallas. By then, Smith’s hold on the job was secure. Smith stayed upright the entire 2022 season in leading the Seahawks to a surprising wild-card playoff berth and Lock didn’t play a down.

Lock signed a one-year deal to return the following season knowing he’d again be the backup to Smith. This time he got two starts late in the season when Smith suffered a groin injury.

The first was a thankless task — a 28-16 defeat in San Francisco against the Super Bowl-bound 49ers.

The second was one of the highlights of Lock’s career — a 20-17 victory over the Eagles, who had advanced to the Super Bowl the year before. He threw a 29-yard touchdown to then-rookie Jaxon Smith-Njigba for the winning score with 28 seconds remaining.

With Mike Macdonald replacing Carroll as head coach after that season, and with Smith set to return as quarterback, Lock decided to move on in 2024 to the New York Giants, who gave him a one-year, $5 million deal to back up — and maybe compete with — Daniel Jones.

Once again, a preseason malady — this time, a hip injury — waylaid his hopes of competing for the starting job.

“That was upsetting," Lock said last year.

Jones was released after the Giants started 2-8, which gave Lock five late-season starts.

He went just 1-4.

Lock had one of the best games in his career during that stretch as he threw for four touchdowns and ran for another in a surprising 45-33 victory over the Colts in Week 17 that helped prevent the Giants from earning the No. 1 overall choice in the 2025 NFL draft.

Lock became only the fifth player in NFL history to have 300 or more passing yards, four or more touchdown passes, one or more rushing TDs and a passer rating of better than 155 in the same game, joining Aaron Rodgers, Drew Brees, Josh Allen and Ryan Fitzpatrick.

“It was great to know it’s in you, to know it’s there," Lock said last year. “It’s just having all the pieces come together on a Sunday afternoon to be able to do it."

With the Giants starting over the following season — they signed Wilson and drafted Jaxson Dart — Lock was again looking for a team.

When things went sideways with Smith and they traded him to the Raiders, the Seahawks were looking to remake their QB room.

And after signing Darnold as the starter, they reached out to Lock in March 2025 to be his backup.

While Lock didn’t know Macdonald, many other faces in the building remained. He has known Darnold since they were roommates at the 2015 U.S. Army All-American Bowl.

“I wanted to be back, simple as that," Lock said.

After signing, he said he understood his assignment of being Darnold’s backup.

“I always say it — you don’t want that time (to play) to come unless it’s 40-0 and then, yeah, I’ll go in and hand it off a couple of times," he said. “But other than that, you want the starter to stay healthy, you want to be winning football games and I want to be on the sidelines being his biggest cheerleader throughout the year. That’s just the job.

"But in the back of your head you know that if that time does come, you’re confident enough you can go in there and do a good job."

Lock never faced that situation in 2025 as Darnold stayed healthy and Lock’s playing time consisted of mopping up five blowouts.

Then came Wednesday when Darnold limped off the field five plays in and Lock came on to see his first significant action in 19 months, completing 16 of 22 passes for 187 yards and a touchdown to help the Seahawks rally for a 13-10 victory.

Macdonald said it was a fitting moment in the spotlight — and maybe just the beginning — for a player who he said has admirably handled what can be the difficult role of being the backup.

“He’s been tremendous," Macdonald said Thursday. “He operates like a starter does in terms of preparation. The chemistry and the personality of our quarterback room is one that is very supportive of each other and also trying to bring out the best in one another.

... We saw what he could do last night. If he has to play again then we expect the same moving forward.”