Daily Norseman
And you’ll never guess what position it involves
The Minnesota Vikings have plenty of decisions to make this offseason, and the one that we’re going to keep coming back to until free agency kicks off in a couple of weeks has to do with the quarterback position. We know what Sam Darnold did for the team this past season after signing a one-year deal, and we also know that the team has young J.J. McCarthy waiting to take over after he missed all of last season with a torn meniscus. So, what do the Vikings do at the position going forward?
Behind the great E$PN paywall, Aaron Schatz has registered his take, predicting the Vikings will make the bold move of signing Darnold to a long-term deal while moving McCarthy for draft capital.
This seems like an absurd idea after the poor wild-card game Darnold had in the playoffs against the Rams, but that was just one game against a very strong, young defensive line. For the entire regular season, Darnold was surprisingly good, ranking 14th in QBR even after adjustments for the players around him. He will still be just 28 next season, and he probably could be signed for a similar contract to the one Daniel Jones signed with the Giants; the Vikings would have a reasonable out after a couple of seasons if Darnold does not continue to play at a high level.
Signing Darnold to a long-term deal would also allow the Vikings to trade McCarthy. He would likely be the top-ranked quarterback in the 2025 class if he was in the upcoming draft. McCarthy won’t garner a top pick because he has one less season on his rookie contract than Shedeur Sanders or Cam Ward will have, but he could get the Vikings a package of picks that would help to replenish their draft allotment. The Vikings currently have just three picks in the 2025 draft — none in the second, third or fourth rounds — and likely a fourth pick when compensatory picks are handed out.
I don’t say this in an effort to be disrespectful to Aaron Schatz, whose body of work with Football Outsiders and other places speaks for itself, but I just don’t get all the thoughts about the Vikings keeping Darnold and not even giving McCarthy a shot.
If the Vikings were to use the franchise tag on Darnold and he signed it right away, the Vikings would immediately be on the hook for $40 million in 2025. That’s going to eat up a huge chunk of the cap space that they’re going to need to address some of the other positions on the roster, including the interior on both lines and the cornerback spot. Sure, the Vikings could probably move a few things around here and there to get things done, but then they’d find themselves right back in the situation that Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and Kevin O’Connell just spent the past couple of seasons digging the...
