Vikings Reportedly “Not Done” With Sam Darnold

The Minnesota Vikings will be busy in free agency, as general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah has to replace numerous contributors and fill out the roster. No storyline is bigger than Sam Darnold’s future. The QB is expected to hit the open market on March 10th with all the other players from this year’s free agency class.

Vikings Reportedly “Not Done” With Sam Darnold

There’s practically a new report emerging daily. On Monday, the big names in the reporting business announced that the Vikings wouldn’t use the franchise tag to keep their QB1 from the 2024 campaign in the building.

Adam Schefter wrote on X: “Vikings QB Sam Darnold is unlikely to be franchise tagged ahead of Tuesday’s 4 pm ET deadline, per league sources. Minnesota still is interested in working to re-sign Darnold, but it is likely to be without any tag.”

Fellow insider Ian Rapoport posted, “The Vikings are not expected to franchise tag QB Sam Darnold by Tuesday’s deadline, per me and Tom Pelissero. But all parties are working through options to potentially keep him in Minnesota. Darnold, who is set to hit free agency, has a situation best described as fluid.”

Less than 24 hours later, Rapoport told NFL Network that Darnold might still be back after all, just not on the tag.

Let’s start with Sam Darnold. As the news came out last night, the Minnesota Vikings are not expected to franchise tag Sam Darnold, according to me and Tom (Pelissero), something that has been building over the last several days.

I know, for a lot of people, this seems strange. If he’s the starting quarterback for the Vikings, why would you not franchise tag him? $40 million, lock it in and move on. The reason is because there’s other factors at play here. Of course, we know, the Minnesota Vikings have J.J. McCarthy, a young quarterback, a rookie last year, who they really really like, who would potentially be ready to come in and start but they are not done with Darnold yet.

Free agency starts next week, teams will have the opportunity to make offers to Sam Darnold. The Minnesota Vikings are going to use today and the next couple days to try to lock in Darnold themselves.

He added that a potential deal could be under the roughly $40 million for the franchise tag.

The Vikings have about $63 million in cap space to acquire new players. The franchise tag would burn a significant hole into the team’s plans. A long-term contract, or even a standard one-year deal, could be managed to lower the cap hit by adding the famous void years to the mix and spreading the money over multiple years.

Free agency opens on Monday with the legal tampering window when player representation can talk to other franchises. The players can then sign contracts two days later, on Wednesday.

The Vikings and Adofo-Mensah would have to find an agreement with Darnold in the next few days.

While that is a possible scenario, it’s important to note that all options (minus the franchise tag) are on the table at this point. The Vikes and the player might want to run it back for another season or go with a long-term deal.

Regardless of Minnesota’s final call, the Vikings are in a different situation than last year when they didn’t match Atlanta’s offer for Kirk Cousins. This time, J.J. McCarthy is already under contract, which clearly changes the situation.

Another team, like the Steelers, Raiders, or Titans, without the QB of the future under contract, might be willing to outbid the Vikings.

Darnold, 27, is coming off a Pro Bowl season with 35 passing touchdowns. The club was successful with him as the signal-caller, and he has earned a pay raise. It remains to be seen whether he will get that increased salary in the Twin Cities or elsewhere.

Janik Eckardt is a football fan who likes numbers and stats. The Vikings became his favorite team despite their quarterback at the time, Christian Ponder. He is a walking soccer encyclopedia, loves watching sitcoms, and prefers Classic rock over other genres. Follow him on Twitter if you like the Vikings: @JanikEckardt