Sam Darnold Gets Bad Vikings News Ahead of Free Agency

In projecting his next stop in the NFL, Sam Darnold‘s best situation likely remains in Minnesota.

After signing a one-year contract last March, the 27-year-old quarterback underwent a career rebirth with the Vikings, posting a career-high 4,319 yards passing and 35 touchdowns en route to a 14-win season — double his previous highest win total for a single season.

Darnold is poised to land a lucrative multi-year contract extension in free agency — and if he had it his way, he’d prefer that to be in Minnesota.

But the Vikings have other plans.

ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reported on February 21 that while the Vikings “loved having Darnold, the team won’t “mortgage the future” to keep him.

“I’m told the Minnesota Vikings are open to doing a deal with Sam Darnold,” Fowler said on “SportsCenter.” “People I’ve talked to around the league believe that the franchise tag is not the likeliest path that Minnesota would take. That’s a high number around $40 million. Minnesota’s stance seems to be that they’re not going to mortgage the future for Sam Darnold.

“If he’s getting major bank with another team somewhere else, they probably won’t mortgage their future in that regard. But they’re certainly open to having him back. They loved having him.”

The Vikings made a telling move in their stance on Darnold after extending void dates for Aaron Jones and Byron Murphy Jr.’s contracts. Murphy was a candidate for a franchise tag, but with the delay, is ineligible to be franchise-tagged. It was a move made in good faith that both sides want to work on a contract extension before free agency open on March 12.

Darnold and Minnesota did not come to the same agreement

The decision appears on Darnold to chase the money and land elsewhere or sign for less to stay in one of the most quarterback-friendly environments in the NFL.

Minnesota has 24 pending free agents and many roster needs to be filled, which makes the $40 million franchise tag unviable for their roster rebuild this offseason.