Vikings’ eye-opening Sam Darnold franchise tag stance before free agency

Sam Darnold enjoyed a career year with the Minnesota Vikings in 2024. The seven-year veteran was thrust into the spotlight after rookie passer J.J. McCarthy suffered a season-ending injury during the preseason. Darnold responded by either finally living up to his potential in a completely sustainable showing that marks the beginning of an All-Pro career, or by making the most of a stacked receiver corps and a great offensive head coach in Kevin O’Connell in an outlier campaign that he has no hope of replicating in the future, depending on who you ask.

With free agency beginning March 12, teams have a two-week window from February 18-March 4 to apply the franchise tag to players in order to prevent them from signing elsewhere. The Vikings now must decide if Darnold warrants a contract, if they’d be better off franchise tagging the passer or if the team should simply let the quarterback walk in free agency.

Tagging Darnold would ensure his return for another season while avoiding a long-term contract that could potentially prevent McCarthy from developing into the Vikings’ starting QB, according to a report from ESPN. While keeping Darold in town via the tag could ultimately allow the team to trade the quarterback, turning his breakout season into value for Minnesota, it’s unclear exactly what Darnold’s market is this offseason.

The Vikings face a daunting Sam Darnold decision

Darnold’s sudden and unexpected meteoric rise over the course of the 2024 season makes evaluating the quarterback especially difficult. But the Vikings are faced with doing just that. On the one hand, the team witnessed what it can get out of Darold with O’Connell there to guide him. He passed for career highs in yards (4,319) and touchdowns (35) while completing a personal best 66.2 percent of his passes.

However, Darnold’s ascension to the upper echelon of NFL quarterbacks is belied by his final two games, in which he failed to deliver in the regular season finale with the division title on the line and then again in the Wild Card round, the first playoff appearance of his career.

In those two games Darnold completed 43 of 81 total passes for 411 yards and accounted for one touchdown and two turnovers. His team lost by a combined 40 points.

The uncertainty surrounding Darnold’s ability to sustain his regular season numbers, along with his catastrophic fall over the last two games when the lights were brightest, makes any decision on the quarterback’s future dicey.

While Darnold exceeded expectations last year, the team selected McCarthy 10th overall in the 2024 draft with plans to eventually turn the team over to the young signal caller. McCarthy actually had a realistic shot at earning the starting role last season before his meniscus injury.

Although Darnold likely showed enough to land a starting gig somewhere in 2025, ESPN concludes that the Vikings would be better served using their franchise tag on cornerback Byron Murphy Jr. The 27-year-old defender finished second in the league with six interceptions in 2024 and was selected to the Pro Bowl. Additionally, the tag number for corners is around $20 million in 2025, compared to over $40 million for quarterbacks.