Vikings Coach Sends Clear Message on Sam Darnold Decision

Quarterback Sam Darnold of the Minnesota Vikings.

Minnesota Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell made his point about Sam Darnold abundantly clear in his media rounds during Super Bowl week.

“There was an organizational plan in place where we wanted to have a guy that we thought we could win football games with, while still attempting to draft our quarterback of the future,” O’Connell told ESPN Radio on February 7. “To be sitting here today, Sam Darnold, 14 wins later, his best season of his career by far. He deserves all the credit for that. We had belief in him, and he earned it with his teammates on a daily basis.”

O’Connell’s enduring praise of Darnold, despite his struggles in the final two games of the season, is often taken as a signal that the Vikings want Darnold.

Make no mistake; they would welcome him back with open arms if he signed on for another one-year, $10 million deal like he signed a year ago.

But a lot has changed for the 27-year-old quarterback.

Darnold went from a backup for the San Francisco 49ers in 2023 to making his first Pro Bowl to the tune of 4,319 yards passing and 35 touchdowns with the Vikings last season.

His career rebirth is expected to garner plenty of attention in free agency, which could push his price to stay in Minnesota well out of the Vikings’ budget — given they have an optimal rookie-scale quarterback contract with J.J. McCarthy.

O’Connell made it clear that the Vikings are not pressured into re-signing or tagging Darnold and are content to wait and see if he’d be happy staying in Minnesota after he entertains his market in free agency

“To have J.J. McCarthy now healthy, going to have a full offseason. I think it’s going to be really exciting,” O’Connell said. “We’ll see how the free agency process works out for Sam.”

Sam Darnold Franchise Tag Still on the Table?

While O’Connell’s words on Darnold’s free agency suggest the franchise tag will not be used on Darnold, there is time and more dominos to fall in their decision-making.

Every year, NFL agents and team personnel converge on the NFL Scouting Combine ahead of free agency in what’s become the league’s unofficial tampering Super Bowl.

Starting February 27 to March 2, conversations will be held in steakhouses, bars and hotel rooms across Indianapolis that will give agents a sense of their clients’ potential market in free agency.

The franchise tag window is open until March 4, meaning the Vikings can still tag Darnold once they get a sense of his market and potential trade value

It’s worth noting that Minnesota moved the void dates in several veteran free-agent contracts — Byron Murphy Jr. and Aaron Jones — to the day before free agency. These maneuvers buy the Vikings time to work out a new deal with both veterans but remove the possibility of tagging them.

Darnold’s contractual void date was not postponed, meaning the tag is still a consideration for him — or an extension. However, if the Vikings do not re-sign Darnold and he walks in free agency, he’ll account for $5 million in dead cap.

That’s not a consequential dead cap hit, considering Minnesota was willing to eat $28.5 million dead cap to part ways with Kirk Cousins last year.

However, it is a sign that the Vikings are waiting to see if Darnold will return to the negotiating table if his camp does not like what they see in free agency come March 12.