Sam Darnold officially active, Seahawks rule out six others VS. 49ers

If you follow the Seahawks on the internet at all, you probably noticed just about every Seattle beat reporter passing along information from Lumen Field today as two teams prepare for a playoff game. And given the information we were given earlier this week, I don’t think anyone can be blamed for feeling a little concern about what we were hearing.

The Seahawks had Drew Lock and Jalen Milroe on the field, practicing and warming up, but no Sam Darnold. The oblique situation having been well documented this week, there was immediate concern that things had gotten worse, or at least hadn’t gotten better. Of course, there was also a belief that he was likely just getting a little extra work done in the locker room.

We didn’t get relief in the form of a Willis Reed moment, Darnold jogging out onto the field in uniform, but the Seahawks did the next best thing. They released their inactive list, and Sam Darnold was nowhere to be found on it. With plenty of time to go before kickoff, Darnold’s late appearance on the field now seems more like a footnote than anything else.

Furthermore, one of the six players that was listed on the inactive list was third string quarterback Jalen Milroe. Milroe remains the emergency third quarterback, but teams are not allowed to use their emergency quarterback unless they are willing to forgo use of their starter and backup.

I have to believe that, if Seattle thought that there was any kind of concern with Darnold being able to get through this game, they’d leave Milroe active so they could bust out a few plays with him, to reduce the load on Drew Lock and provide an unexpected wrinkle for the 49ers. Milroe hasn’t seen the field for the Seahawks since week five against the Buccaneers.

So, take a deep breath, everyone. We may have been put through the ringer over the last couple days, but we have come out on the other side with our pro bowl signal caller ready to go.

Other than Milroe, the inactive players listed by Seattle included LB Jared Ivey, OT Josh Jones, OL Bryce Cabeldue, OL Mason Richman, and DL Rylie Mills. Jones was declared out on Thursday with an injury, so his absence was known. The others, mostly, do not play, so their exclusion is expected and should not be impactful.

Mills is a little bit of a wrinkle, as he was activated for the last few games of the season, but it looks like Seattle wants Brandon Pili as an option this week instead, giving the defense more of a nose tackle type instead of Mills as an undersized interior lineman.

The San Francisco 49ers also got good news on their inactive list. S Ji’ayir Brown was their main loss, and his absence from this game was known pretty much all week as inevitable, and confirmed on Thursday’s game status report. By and large, their other inactive players are players the team doesn’t utilize with particularly high volume.

RB Isaac Guerendo, WR Jordan Watkins, DL Robert Beal Jr, and DL Kevin Givens are all listed. Also listed are OL Brandon Parker and DL Sebastian Valdez, but both players had just been elevated from the practice squad, and were likely just up to get financial bonuses rather than to actually participate in the game tonight.

This means the 49ers will at least have WRs Ricky Pearsall and Jacob Cowing, as well as LBs Dee Winters and Luke Gifford, significant boons for a roster that is lean on pass catchers and linebackers right now. No one would ever call the 2025 49ers healthy, but this is about as healthy as they could have hoped for earlier this week.

Nothing left to do except win a game. — Seattle Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold (14) throws a pass against the Carolina Panthers. | Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images

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