Vikings face more QB questions with Darnold’s expiring contract and McCarthy’s knee recovery

By Canadian Press on January 16, 2025.

EAGAN, Minn. (AP) — The Minnesota Vikings have entered yet another offseason with significant questions around their quarterback depth chart, an unsettledness that was supposed to be calmed last year when they drafted J.J. McCarthy.

Sam Darnold played so well over 16 games after McCarthy’s rookie-year-robbing injury that the Vikings were faced with one of those proverbial good problems to have. Then Darnold foundered so fast over the final two weeks the situation went back to being a dilemma.

In separate season-ending news conferences Thursday, neither general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah nor head coach Kevin O’Connell would speak in anything but vague generalities on the subject of interest in re-signing Darnold.

“How we put things together as we move into the future will be based upon what gives us the best chance to win, what gives us the best chance to put the best version of the Minnesota Vikings football team on the field,” O’Connell said.

“I think it’s way too early in that process to really identify exactly what that looks like. But we’re going to go through every layer of it and we’re going to clearly decide that path that that helps us move forward to win games.”

Considering McCarthy has yet to take an NFL snap and will be returning from major knee surgery, the Vikings need to have another viable alternative in case the 10th overall pick in the 2024 draft is deemed not ready. Given that Darnold was a Pro Bowl pick with 14 wins in a career-best season after quickly thriving under O’Connell, he’d be the obvious choice in a salary cap-free vacuum to bring back.

But the Vikings wouldn’t be able to get him on another bargain contract.

With a thin class of draft prospects and free agents, Darnold will be by far the most ready-made option available and maybe as many as a half-dozen teams who’ll be in the market for a new starter.

If they were to place the franchise tag on him and delay by one year a decision about the long term, that would still cost a projected $41 million in 2025 when the Vikings currently own only one pick in the first four rounds of the draft and also have several key impending free agents. Tagging Darnold could always precede a deal to another team, but there’s rarely a guarantee of a meaningful return when it comes to trades in the NFL.

What’s clear is the Vikings can’t afford to squander more years of McCarthy on a rookie contract in terms of maintaining a contender around him. With a superstar wide receiver in Justin Jefferson leading a list of standouts on offense including wide receiver Jordan Addison, tight end T.J. Hockenson and tackles Christian Darrisaw and Brian O’Neill, the window is now for the Vikings to try to win that elusive Super Bowl.

McCarthy remains an integral part of that plan. He has returned to on-field work, five months after meniscus repair surgery.

“We’re really confident in him, his work ethic, and his preparation. But I can’t sit here and tell you I know anything for certain. I know that I’m willing to believe in the person that we have. That position is about talent and preparation, and he’s got those things in spades,” Adofo-Mensah said. “And so if that’s the course of action we decide, we’ll go there confidently.”

Jefferson, for his part, said he wasn’t concerned about the quarterback situation. Last year, he publicly expressed a desire for the Vikings to re-sign Kirk Cousins but gracefully pivoted to Darnold and developed a solid connection for their first season together.

“It’s not really something that I’m making a big deal about,” Jefferson said the day after the season ended with a wild-card round loss to the Los Angeles Rams. “Whoever they decide to either bring back or to have in this locker room, we’ve got to make it work and we’ve got to do whatever it takes to get a Super Bowl.”

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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL

Dave Campbell, The Associated Press