Some members of the NFL neighborhood steered after the Minnesota Vikings improved to 11-2 on the season through Sunday’s 42-21 win over the Atlanta Falcons that the Vikings ought to maintain onto quarterback Sam Darnold this offseason though they chose signal-caller J.J. McCarthy with the tenth total decide of the 2024 NFL Draft.
Darnold is on observe to succeed in free company when the brand new league yr opens in March, however the Vikings might have one thing to say about that relying on how the 27-year-old performs by Minnesota’s last sport of the season.
“I requested a couple of execs Sunday evening the place they noticed Darnold’s market,” NFL insider Albert Breer of Sports activities Illustrated shared. “One guessed he’d command a three-year, $110M contract with greater than $40M assured. One other stated he thought the Vikings ought to contemplate franchise tagging him though the value on that initiatives to prime $41M, and that he’d in all probability get $40M per yr if he hit the open market.”
There’s loads to unpack right here.
The wage cap is as soon as once more set to increase this offseason, and historical past reveals groups can nearly all the time create wanted cap house through contract extensions and different intelligent bookkeeping actions. Thus, there’s at the moment little purpose to consider the Vikings could not afford to tag Darnold this winter.
Whether or not or not they’re going to wish to achieve this is unknown. Based on ESPN stats, Darnold ended this previous weekend ranked fifteenth within the NFL with a 59.0 adjusted QBR for the season. He is tied for third with 28 landing passes and sixth with 3,299 yards by the air, however he additionally tossed 10 interceptions over his first 13 video games with Minnesota.
As for McCarthy, no one can say with absolute certainty what he’ll and/or will not be subsequent summer time coming off the entire meniscus repair the rookie wanted in August. On the very least, Minnesota utilizing the franchise tag to retain Darnold’s rights for 2025 would give the membership further time to guage McCarthy’s restoration.
Darnold accomplished 22-of-28 passes for 347 yards with 5 touchdowns and no picks in opposition to the Falcons. If he routinely produces related stats en path to guiding the Vikings to greater than only a playoff berth, Minnesota could ultimately have to think about making McCarthy out there earlier than the 2025 draft.
For now, the Vikings can merely hope Darnold stays sizzling throughout subsequent Monday’s residence sport versus the 4-9 Chicago Bears.