The Minnesota Vikings have an 11-2 file getting ready to Monday Night time Soccer against the Chicago Bears, a wonderful so-far consequence in a season when the franchise was anticipated to win six or seven video games, in keeping with sportsbooks.
Quarterback Sam Darnold is enjoying so properly that some have questioned “what the Vikings will do with him” when the 2025 offseason arrives. Minnesota drafted Michigan’s J.J. McCarthy eight months in the past because the quarterback of the longer term, however McCarthy’s maiden voyage season fell on harsh occasions in August after a meniscus tear. He hit injured reserved, canceling his rookie yr.
So, nearly naturally, as a result of Darnold has balled out — he’s on tempo for roughly 4,300 passing yards, 38 whole touchdowns, and 13 interceptions — a budding “Darnold or McCarthy” debate has emerged for 2025 and past.
And in keeping with some outstanding pundits and unnamed executives, the selection is obvious: Minnesota will hand the QB1 baton to McCarthy whereas letting Darnold enterprise to a brand new staff by way of free company. The Athletic‘s Jeff Howe opined final week.
“I believe Darnold will get one thing in the course of Kirk Cousins’ four-year, $180 million deal and Baker Mayfield’s three-year, $100 million pact. It could assist his case if Sean McVay disciples Zac Robinson or Liam Coen obtained head-coaching jobs, contemplating Darnold’s success with Kevin O’Connell,” he wrote.
“Whereas I believe there’s a legitimate argument for holding Darnold and the staff’s championship aspirations intact, it wouldn’t be terrific asset administration to bury McCarthy for an additional couple of years. I additionally assume O’Connell has performed greater than sufficient together with his quarterbacks to imagine there will probably be a clean transition with McCarthy subsequent season.”
Quickly after, Mike Sando, additionally from The Athletic, sought an anonymous executive for ideas on Darnold or McCarthy. “McCarthy is their man. The speaking heads assume they’re loopy to let Darnold go, however they don’t have the identical conviction on McCarthy because the Vikings do,” the manager revealed.
Too, ESPN’s Bill Barnwell opined per week in the past: “And whereas it’s thriving with Darnold underneath heart, the protection has been the driving drive for its victories, because the Vikings rank second in EPA per play on protection. They’re thirteenth on offense. Would Adofo-Mensah want to stay with a low-cost resolution at quarterback and make investments to maintain that protection enjoying at a excessive degree? My guess is sure, however this places the Vikings in an attention-grabbing place, one that would harm Darnold in the long term. Doubtless 2025 starter: McCarthy.”
On the entire, this can be a good downside for Minnesota — too many good quarterbacks to maintain on the funds. The truth is, in the mean time, Minnesota employs Darnold, McCarthy, Brett Rypien, Daniel Jones, and Nick Mullens. Apart from Rypien, all might begin within the NFL (not less than in a pinch for the latter two).
If Minnesota re-upped with Darnold for $40+ million per yr — that will probably be his asking value per his present manufacturing — it might be proper again within the spot that some followers loathed for six years: paying a good-but-not-great quarterback huge cash whereas hoping to outfit the roster round a big quarterback contract.
That’s most likely why the choice appears like a no brainer, not less than in keeping with Howe, Sando, and Barnwell, that McCarthy will get the nod, with Darnold taking his newfound QB1 play elsewhere.
Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the College of Minnesota in 2007. Subscribe to his day by day YouTube Channel, VikesNow. The present options friends, evaluation, and opinion on all issues associated to the purple staff, with 4-7 episodes per week. His Vikings obsession dates again to 1996. Listed responsible pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ Basset Hounds, and The Doorways (the band). He follows the NBA as carefully because the NFL. All statistics supplied by Pro Football Reference / Stathead; all contractual info supplied by OverTheCap.com.
Pundits Line Up with Future Vikings QB Predictions
