Per Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports activities, Minnesota certainly hopes that will probably be in a position to retain Darnold, who has piloted the Vikings to a 12-2 document and a shot on the NFC’s No. 1 seed. Jones’ sources affirm prior stories that the 27-year-old passer has set himself up for a contract that might pay him at the very least $25M per season, which is, after all, a substantial increase on the one-year, $10M deal he signed with the Vikings this 12 months.
That mentioned, Minnesota is projected to have upward of $70M in cap area in 2025, so a “middle-class” QB deal could be possible. It could even be a discount if Darnold, below the tutelage of head coach Kevin O’Connell, has really blossomed into the participant the Jets believed he could be after they made him the No. 3 total choose of the 2018 draft.
Darnold’s 104.9 QB ranking is the fourth-highest mark within the league, he has led 4 game-winning drives and the Vikings are eighth within the league in scoring as of the time of this writing. That efficiency, mixed with Minnesota’s win-loss document, makes it no shock that the workforce needs him again.
After all, the Vikes signed Darnold this offseason to make him a bridge passer, not a long-term fixture below middle. As such, the workforce chosen J.J. McCarthy with the No. 10 total choose of this 12 months’s draft, and McCarthy was the participant deemed to be the quarterback of the longer term.
Based on Jones, that has not modified. The Vikings’ stage of religion in McCarthy is as excessive because it was when he was drafted, and the season-ending knee harm he suffered in August has not altered the membership’s view of his profession trajectory.
Nonetheless, Darnold’s efforts this season can’t be ignored, and one AFC govt informed Jones that McCarthy might grow to be Minnesota’s model of Inexperienced Bay’s Jordan Love (a first-round choose who sat behind Aaron Rodgers for a number of seasons earlier than lastly getting an opportunity to run the present).
Since Darnold’s mixture of youth and talent might make him probably the most fascinating QB on this 12 months’s free-agent class, it’s nonetheless doable that his asking value goes past the Vikings’ consolation stage.
However his 2024 exhibiting has afforded him the flexibility to be selective about his future residence, and Jones says the USC product will naturally train warning to keep away from undesirable conditions like these he discovered himself in as a member of the Jets and Panthers.
Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com says the Browns would have curiosity if Darnold hits the open market, although it’s unclear whether or not Cleveland — regardless of the presumptive presence of a well-respected offensive thoughts in HC Kevin Stefanski — would qualify as a fascinating state of affairs.
Minnesota has proved to be an ideal match, and if the Vikings are keen to spend, it seems that the door to a multiyear pact between Darnold and the membership stays open.
