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Legacy is a convoluted concept. In football, an entire career can be defined by a single moment in a single game — especially when that game is the Super Bowl.
Below are the seven legacies that could be most impacted by the results of Super Bowl LX:
Mike Vrabel: The legend of franchise legends?
Mike Vrabel, who started at linebacker for eight seasons in New England, solidified himself as a Patriots legend before he ever put on the headset. Being an integral part of three championship teams, while also being a fan favorite, will secure that status.
But turning a 13-loss squad into an AFC Champion in one offseason? That’s next-level.
On Sunday, Vrabel has a chance to become just the fifth person in NFL history to win a Super Bowl as both a player and a head coach — and the only person to accomplish the feat with the same franchise.
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Joe DiMaggio, Tim Duncan, Willie Mays … Drake Maye?
At 23 years old (and 162 days on game day), Drake Maye would be the youngest starting quarterback in NFL history to win a Super Bowl, surpassing former Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger, who was 23 years and 340 days old when Pittsburgh defeated Seattle in Super Bowl XL.
A win would also bring Maye’s career playoff record to 4-0, making him the first quarterback since Tom Brady to win each of his first four postseason starts. Brady was 24 years old when he won his first Super Bowl to cap off the 2001 postseason.
Big tip of the hat to NFL Research’s Samuel Reno for this cross-sports context: A win would make Maye the fourth-youngest player in the history of the NFL, MLB or NBA to lead a championship-winning team in touchdown passes (NFL), runs batted in (MLB) or points scored (NBA). He’d be joining pretty good company:
Joe DiMaggio: 22 years old when the Yankees won the World Series in 1937.
Tim Duncan: 23 years and 61 days old when the Spurs clinched the NBA Finals at the end of the 1998-99 season.
Willie Mays: 23 years and 149 days old when the Giants captured the World Series in 1954.
Sam Darnold: The ultimate journey, man
With a win in Super Bowl LX, Sam Darnold will have a strong argument for having pulled off the greatest career turnaround in NFL history. And he could earn that honor before his 29th birthday.
In 2018, at just 21 years old, Darnold — drafted third overall by the Jets that offseason — became the youngest quarterback in the Super Bowl era to start in a season-opener for his team.
Darnold’s Jets tenure ended in a trade to the Panthers prior to the 2021 season. His Carolina stint started off hot (3-0) before fizzling out in the form of seven losses over his final eight starts. After losing the Panthers’ QB1 job, Darnold moved on to San Francisco, serving as Brock Purdy‘s backup in 2023.
Fast-forward to 2024, when Darnold joined the Vikings and became the first quarterback to win 14 games in his first season with a team. After a disastrous final two games to wrap the campaign, he then became the first quarterback not to return to a team that he won 14 games with the previous year.
The Seahawks signed Darnold to a three-year deal during the 2025 offseason, and in Week 1, he became the only quarterback in NFL history to start a season-opener for four different franchises prior to his 30th birthday (Darnold turns 30 in June 2027).
What better way to cap his career renaissance (and second consecutive 14-win season) than by setting a new Super Bowl milestone? A victory on Sunday would cement Darnold as the first starting QB to win a ring while on his fifth team.
There have been other unlikely Super Bowl champions, of course. Brad Johnson was a ninth-round pick whose journey to Super Bowl glory included a pitstop in London with NFL Europe, and Trent Dilfer wasn’t even the Ravens’ starter until Week 9 of Baltimore’s 2000 championship season.
But a Seahawks win would make Darnold singular in the annals of league history.
Mike Macdonald: History for a defensive play-caller
The last time the Seahawks won the Super Bowl (February 2014), Mike Macdonald had not yet held an NFL job. The following season, he served as a 27-year-old coaching intern for the Baltimore Ravens.
Fast-forward to the present, and the 38-year-old Seahawks coach has a chance to join the most exclusive list of defensive coaches in modern NFL history. Macdonald was hired by the Seahawks after serving as the Ravens defensive coordinator in 2022 and ’23, with Baltimore allowing the fewest points in the NFL over the latter season.
This season, Macdonald’s Seahawks accomplished the same feat, ranking first in points allowed (with 292) for the first time since the peak of the Legion of Boom era (Seattle paced the league in every season from 2012 to ’15).