Sam Darnold Week 5 Outlook - Buccaneers at Seahawks

By Derek Brown (FantasyPros), Sat, Oct 4th 2025, 2:05am EDT

Sam Darnold is the QB27 in fantasy points per game, but he's playing MUCH better football than that ranking suggests. He has at least 16.1 fantasy points in each of his last three games. Darnold ranks second in yards per attempt, fifth in CPOE, eighth in highly accurate throw rate, and third in hero throw rate. Darnold should have a strong week against the Bucs' pass defense. Tampa Bay has allowed the eighth-highest success rate per dropback and 13th-highest passer rating while ranking 15th in yards per attempt. The Bucs still love to blitz (fourth-highest rate). Darnold has destroyed the blitz with the third-best yards per attempt and the highest CPOE. Darnold gets another boost this week with Jamel Dean and Benjamin Morrison both sidelined with injuries this week. Kindle Vildor (career: 66.5% catch rate and 123.7 passer rating allowed) will likely step in this week across from Zyon McCollum (63.6% catch rate and 112.1 passer rating allowed).