Vikings QB Sam Darnold had a career resurgence in 2024, leading the team to a 14-3 record with career-best statistics across the board.
However, Minnesota lost their two final games for an early postseason exit where he didn’t look as sharp as before. Darnold is due for a new deal and first-round QB J.J. McCarthy is waiting in the wings, leaving some uncertainty at the position for 2025.
Vikings GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah had great things to say about Darnold, stating his belief that there were plenty of games they won because of Darnold, not in spite of him.
“We got to see Sam play some incredible football for us,” Adofo-Mensah said, via the team’s social media. “Won a lot of big games — at Seattle, at Lambeau. The production he was able to do, we’re talking bout games where he won games for us. There were a lot of games where he was a ‘win because of’ type player. And you also have to net that with all of [it] in totality”
With Darnold due for a significant pay raise, Adofo-Mensah admitted they will consider every factor when deciding whether to bring him back under the franchise tag or on a long-term deal.
“So, we’re going to approach this offseason — I don’t want to give you the stock answer, but it really is — everything we do is about, OK, what’s the team around him going to look like? What does this piece fit into our whole championship equation? And we’ll do those exercises like we did last offseason, came out with a plan that we came up with. We’ll have those conversations with Kevin [O’Connell], my staff, everybody in this building to come along board.”
“Because at the end of the day, you’re making decisions under uncertainty. But what happens is, once you find a course of action, it’s how you implement your plan — how you show up every day and get the best version of whoever you decide to go with at quarterback. How does that fit into your long-term picture? The contract structure, all those different things will go under our plan. And I’m excited to have those conversations because I think we’ve got a lot of good options. And at the most important position in the sport, I think that’s a great thing.”
Darnold, 27, is a former first-round pick of the Jets back in 2018. He was in the final year of a four-year, $30.370 million rookie contract when he was traded to the Panthers.
Carolina exercised Darnold’s fifth-year option for 2022 after acquiring him from New York. He made a base salary of $18.858 million in 2022 under the option.
Darnold was an unrestricted free agent for the first time in his career when he signed a one-year, $4.5 million deal with the 49ers in 2023. He joined the Vikings this past offseason on another one-year deal.
In 2024, Darnold appeared in all 17 games for the Vikings and completed 66.2 percent of his pass attempts for 4,319 yards, 35 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. He added 67 carries for 212 yards and a touchdown.
We’ll have more on Darnold and the Vikings quarterback situation as the news is available.
