Sam Darnold has done well this postseason. He’s playing some of the best football of his life and has led the Seattle Seahawks to the Super Bowl because of it. On top of that, he’s already earned $3 million in incentives.
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However, even if he wins the Super Bowl on Sunday, Darnold is set to pay more in taxes than his Super Bowl payout simply for playing in California. This is because the state has the highest income tax in the United States. For just eight “duty days” spent in the state, the QB would be taxed $249K if the Seahawks win. And even if he loses, he would still be taxed $235K.
Add this to the fact that the Super Bowl winner will receive $178K per player and the loser $103K per player, and it creates a rather interesting situation for Darnold.
Luckily for the star quarterback, if he wins the Big Game, he will earn another $1 million in incentives. That would offset the financial loss from taxes and bring his total playoff incentives to $4 million.
If his team wins, Darnold will receive $178k and pay $249k to California in taxes for his time here, losing $71k. If his team loses he gets $103k and still pays over $235k in taxes, losing $135k. I presume California is declaring victory, as his incentive to win is preserved. https://t.co/tywmnfGuRs
— Joshua Rauh (@joshrauh) February 7, 2026
But for a lot of players who don’t have such terms, these are pretty steep taxes to have to pay. It’s exactly how California wants its system to be set up, though. They make the top 1% of earners in the state pay for nearly half of all income tax. They heavily rely on taxing people who make lots of money to fund public services, education, health, and welfare programs.
Most people know the saying, “In this world, nothing is certain but death and taxes.” At times, it can feel very true, as the public funding service can continuously sneak up on us and back into our lives. And for high earners like Darnold, taxes are inescapable in America.
Regardless, with $120 million in career earnings, the taxes aren’t going to affect Darnold’s sleep at night anytime soon. He’s become a very rich man over the past few seasons, and deservedly so for the way he’s played. It is quite interesting, though, that he will be taxed twice just for simply being in his home state of California. Talk about reasons not to want to come home.
