Last year, quarterback Sam Darnold turned low expectations into a special season. This year, the expectations will be higher.

With Darnold agreeing to terms on a three-year, $100.5 million contract in Seattle, he’ll be expected to start — and to pick up where he left off. It’s the highest bar he’s experienced since entering the league as the third overall pick in the 2018 draft.

And that didn’t end well.

Was last year an aberration? Or were his early-career experiences a direct result of being forced to play for a perennially dysfunctional team?

The Seahawks are betting that last year was the start of a trend. Darnold is making the same bet, even if he’s also the one who has hit the relative jackpot.

It’s relative because $33.5 million per year in a far cry from full market value. Sixteen quarterbacks currently have a higher annual averages. That number will move to 19, when Aaron Rodgers signs, when Brock Purdy inks an extension, and when Geno Smith gets a new deal from the Raiders (if he does).

Still, it’s starter money. Not backup, not bridge (like last year’s $10 million deal in Minnesota). The floor will be higher. The pressure will be greater. And given the case of the yips that Darnold seemed to develop in Week 18 at Detroit, it’s fair to wonder what will happen if/when Darnold feels greater heat than he ever did in 2024 — when the only threat to his status was Nick Mullens.

For Seattle, the question becomes whether a dollar-for-dollar analysis holds up. If Smith wanted more than $40 million per year and if Darnold will take $33.5 million, does it become a good deal if Darnold is more than 75 percent the performer Smith was?

Regardless, they had a multi-year proven commodity in Smith. With Darnold, it’s a roll of the dice that last year will carry over into this year.