Vikings Insider: Darnold’s Path Doesn’t Lead Back to…

With the Minnesota Vikings near the top of the NFC many fans and national media members are praising the work of quarterback Sam Darnold. Darnold started off the season playing at an MVP level but has sense cooled down a little bit.

Although Darnold has cooled down, many Minnesota Vikings’ fans are wondering whether or not they should re-sign him after this season. There seems to be a wide diversity of opinions regarding what the team should do with Darnold, but the opinions seem to fall into three brackets:

Re-sign Darnold and bring him back no matter what

Move on from Darnold and hand the reins over to rookie J.J. McCarthy

See how far Darnold can make it in the playoffs before making the decision

Withmany opinions out there, number three seems to be where a majority of the people are landing. That means, if Darnold is one-and-done in the playoffs, move onto McCarthy. If Darnold takes you to the NFC Conference Championship or Super Bowl, the Vikings should seriously consider re-signing him. Although that may be the popular opinion, do the Minnesota Vikings already have their decision made?

Voice of the Vikings says the team won’t re-sign Sam Darnold, even if they win the Super Bowl

Appearing on the “9 to Noon” Show (KFAN), Paul Allen was asked by a caller about what the Vikings should do regarding Darnold and McCarthy next year. After going back and forth with his producer, Allen lays out a pretty clear picture on what he thinks the Minnesota Vikings will do.

“I mean, if Sam Darnold wins the Super Bowl as QB of the Minnesota Vikings, he’s not getting 100 million guaranteed here. He’s not, because Kwesi in that group has worked so hard for two and a half years to get salary cap flexibility. And in essence, jettison picks in certain parts of the draft to get Greenard, to get Van Ginkel, to get Cashman.”

Paul Allen – Voice of the Minnesota Vikings (KFAN)

Essentially, no matter what Darnold does this season, even if he won the Super Bowl, this is McCarthy’s team starting in 2025 and beyond. Allen is fairly adamant too, citing general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah’s work getting this team salary cap flexibility and the amount of draft capital spent in future years as potential reasons why this would be the case.

The reality of the situation between quarterbacks Sam Darnold and J.J. McCarthy

It’s hard to fathom right now what the Minnesota Vikings will truly do since we don’t have the answers to all the questions. They are 7-2 and just over half way through the 2024-25 regular season. The outcome of this team could still go in a million different directions.

With that said, there is some truth to Allen’s thought process. The team does have significant money to accommodate a high-priced quarterback contract, but the team also has very limited draft assets in the next two years. You’re going to need that money to pay top free agent players, not a quarterback.

Overall, it’s quite clear that Adofo-Mensah has built the future of this team with the thought process of having a quarterback on a rookie deal. Whether or not that will be the reality next season, we’ll eventually find out. For now, enjoy the ride this season and a team that has a very high probability of making the playoffs.