The Minnesota Vikings are facing a massive decision! If we talk about the moment, it remains unclear whether Sam Darnold will stay in the team for 2025 or not. Darnold had a good season last time. He had a passer rating of 102.5 with 4,319 yards, 35 touchdowns and 12 interceptions in 17 games. His stats even led him to his first Pro Bowl. But a single playoff might not portray the future of the Vikings. It’s true that the franchise tag might bring the QB back. But with it comes a major problem too!
On Friday, NFL insider Tom Pelissero joined The Rich Eisen Show to talk to guest host Suzy Shuster on the Vikings, Sam Darnold, and JJ McCarthy. Minnesota’s deadline to use the franchise tag is almost here, and all eyes are now on their QB position. We can’t deny that Darnold has a good season in 2024. But it might be a rare case. As per Pelissero, letting him walk for just a future draft pick would be unusual. So, the ideal scenario in this case?
He proposed, “I believe the best outcome for everyone would be Matthew Stafford comes back to Minnesota. They’re able to work out some type of a deal similar to the Baker Mayfield deal in Tampa after he went there, had a big year on a one-year contract. It wasn’t a top-of-the market deal, it wasn’t a Bargain Basement deal, but it was a good solid contract that gave him a one plus year guarantee and then you know gave the Bucs the opportunity to kind of go year to year on that into the future.” During the discussion, Pelissero pressed on that he isn’t in favor of tagging Sam Darnold. Why? It’s because this franchise tag, which is speculated to be around $40 million, might not be easy as it comes with a lot of issues.
The NFL reporter warned, “If you tag (Sam) Darnold, you also run the risk that he could run in, immediately sign it, we do about $40 million fully guaranteed in 2025 and at a time that the Vikings also need to address the interior of their offensive line. They’re trying to get Aaron Jones back, their entire starting secondary are free agents. And then all of a sudden, if you’re eating up $40 million of the cap and you can’t, you don’t really have any flexibility with that (as it) can create some challenges.” No doubt there’s a big chunk of cap space when the team has other pressing needs, as mentioned by Pelissero.
So, the front office, which is led by Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, is thinking strategically. Last year, they spent wisely in free agency and won 14 games. Now, they must decide before committing a big sum of money to Sam Darnold, especially when the team has another young quarterback in the line.
If not Sam Darnold, will JJ McCarthy be the answer? It’s risky!
A tricky scene for the purple and gold! It’s quite possible that given the situation of building the offensive line with limited cap space, Vikings might not extend Sam Darnold. They already have JJ McCarthy in the team. But the problem is, Sam Darnold’s backup already missed his entire rookie season due to injury. There’s no playbook for handling a first-round QB in that situation. Hence, in this case, Tom Pelissero has an idea.
During the same podcast episode, he expressed that the Vikings could bring another quarterback in the team to help McCarthy after Sam Darnold. The NFL insider quipped that the Vikings’s goal is to build a championship level team. Last year, they took a strategic approach – signing Sam Darnold for a reasonable $10 million, drafting a young QB, and using their rest of the budget to strengthen other positions. This plan worked well as they made key additions in free agency, like Andrew Van Ginkel, Blake Cashman, and Aaron Jones.
But now, Pelissero questioned, “This time around, does it make sense to go out and spend $30 $35 $40 million maybe more on Sam Darnold or do you go we’ll bring in Daniel Jones on a similar type of contract that Darnold had? Let him duke it out in camp with JJ McCarthy and find out what’s happening.” He thinks that signing Jones would be beneficial for the team, as he could be the backup or third-string QB for the franchise. The decision ahead is crucial for shaping the team’s future and for JJ McCarthy too!
The post NFL Insider Warns Vikings About Extending Sam Darnold as Minnesota Team Asked to Let JJ McCarthy and Daniel Jones ‘Duke It Out’ appeared first on EssentiallySports.