Daily Norseman
Most of our readers seem to think so
It’s time for us to check out the results of our SB Nation Reacts poll for this week, and while our survey was only one question long, it was the question that will surround the Minnesota Vikings for the next month and a half or so.
We asked what everyone thought the Vikings were going to do with quarterback Sam Darnold. Darnold is set to hit free agency after far exceeding expectations this past season while playing on a one-year, $10 million deal. We gave everyone several options as to what they think the team may do with him, and the majority of you feel that Darnold will be somewhere else next season.
Here are our results:
Of those who responded to our poll, a full 85% of you think that Darnold will be leaving the Vikings in some way. The “how” of this will happen shows a bit of a split, however. There were 48% of our readers who think that the Vikings will just let Darnold walk without any sort of fight, while 37% think that the team will place the franchise tag on Darnold and then trade him away. Of the remaining respondents, 12% think that the Vikings will have him back for another 1-year deal on the franchise tag, while just 3% think that the team will sign him to a long-term extension.
Personally, I think that the “let him leave” option is what will end up happening. It would be nice to think that the team could get something big for him in a tag-and-trade sort of deal, but I don’t know if you can risk tagging Darnold at this point unless you absolutely know you’re going to be able to move him. If Darnold signs his franchise tender, the Vikings will suddenly be on the hook for a figure north of $40 million, and even though they’re going to be sitting on a ton of cap space this offseason, such a move would take a huge chunk out of that figure.
On top of that, I still firmly believe that everything that Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, Kevin O’Connell, and the Vikings have been doing has been pointing to 2025. They drafted J.J. McCarthy with the mindset that he was more likely to take over this season than he would have been as a rookie and they seem more than willing to turn the keys over to him next season. Plus, after what the team went through with Kirk Cousins for six seasons, I don’t think they’re in any big hurry to potentially get back on the mid-level QB treadmill with Darnold. This team is going to turn its attention to the holes that they need to fill in free agency and take advantage of the rookie QB contract they currently have to build up the rest of the roster in lieu of spending a bunch of money on Darnold.
That’s just my opinion. As always, your mileage may...
