The Vikings have 2024 first-round pick J.J. McCarthy as a quarterback-in-waiting. But they still may bring Sam Darnold back for at least another season in 2025.
Darnold is set to be a free agent after completing the one-year deal he signed with Minnesota last March. General Manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah said during his Tuesday press conference at the scouting combine that the club is still discussing how to proceed with Darnold — with the franchise tag one possibility.
“Every option is afforded to us,” Adofo-Mensah said. “When we did the move originally, we wanted to create optionality. And part of the optionality was believing and betting on a guy who was young, talented — believing in our infrastructure to be able to do the things we can do with the quarterbacks. So, we’re now in a position where we have options. And we’ll continue to work those options, figure out the best way for the Vikings to move forward.”
Darnold, 27, had far and away his best pro season playing under head coach Kevin O’Connell in 2024. He completed 66.2 percent of his passes for 4,319 yards with 35 touchdowns and 12 interceptions, leading the Vikings to a 14-3 record.
But Darnold struggled in Minnesota’s last two games — a loss to the Lions in Week 18 and a loss to the Rams in the wild card round.
“I was telling my staff, if I could’ve bought of a brain teaser of an experiment to think through, that would’ve been a pretty tough one — where [you have] a Pro Bowl quarterback, win all those games, and then you lose to two teams twice,” Adofo-Mensah said. “And so that was really kind of the ore of our offseason, really thinking through that holistically. Not trying to be overweighted by those eight quarters but not underweighting those last two games. Really, he played a lot of good football for us. Year 1 in the system, so you can expect more later. And so, we’re excited [about] the potential for Sam — whatever that ends up being.
“But it’s a tough exercise. I want to make sure that we’re continually saying we’re so proud of what he did for us. We’re so proud of this team. It didn’t end the way we wanted it to, but a lot of good things happened. We continue to lay the foundation for the team we want to be and we’ll continue to go forward.”
For his part, O’Connell said it was fun to be a part of Darnold’s year and that he’s proud of the quarterback’s 2024. But there are still things under discussion for next season.
“I’ve had great dialogue with Sam from the time the season ended up until very, very recently,” O’Connell said. “I think my relationship with Sam has grown to a point where the respect level is sky high. This process is going to play out both short-term and long-term for the Minnesota Vikings. And Sam is in a position where the NFL thinks he can play quarterback at a high level.
“So, that’s a really good thing and I feel very proud to be a part of helping him get to this point. We’ll see where it goes from here.”
