If Sam Darnold continues to excel, it could mean even a second redshirt year for J.J. McCarthy, depending on the rookie’s health. That could complicate the Vikings’ quarterback future.
Darnold, just 27 years old, has led Minnesota to an unexpected 9-2 start entering Sunday’s game against the 6-5 Cardinals in Minneapolis.
McCarthy, 21, the Vikings’ top 2024 draft pick QB who is rehabbing after a recent second right knee procedure, remains NFL unproven.
Don’t expect the Vikings to reveal much about McCarthy’s knee.
>> Darnold is playing for $10 million and can become a free agent after the season. The market now for a productive NFL QB is at least $40 million a season over four years. NFL teams are desperate for good quarterback play.
>> The challenge for the Vikings is the money Darnold could cost, although the team could franchise him for one year at a cost of nearly $40 million.
The reason the Vikings moved on from Kirk Cousins last March was budget (his deal averages $45 million a season with the Falcons), a torn Achilles and his age (36).
>> The Vikings, who will thoroughly scrutinize McCarthy’s knee in February, could have a really difficult QB decision entering next year.
>> Daniel Jones, 27, who led the Giants to a 2-8 start before his release and subsequent signing as a practice squad QB last week, will be a reclamation project for coach Kevin O’Connell, the former NFL QB who, to date, has transformed Darnold’s career. Jones, whose four-year Giants contract was for $160 million, will make $16,800 a week with the Vikings on the practice squad.
Jones gives the Vikings a backup option this season, and if they can’t afford Darnold for next season. He could also back up McCarthy next year. It’s also a chance to see if O’Connell can rehabilitate Jones the way he has Darnold. O’Connell seems to enjoy the challenge.
For Jones, he’s seen what O’Connell and his system has done with Darnold and wants to be well-coached.
>> Left-handed QB Owen McCown, 21, son of Vikings QB coach Josh McCown, is a sophomore redshirt at Texas-San Antonio, where he has passed for 2,963 yards and 23 TDs.
>> Ronnie Spielman, who played football at Eden Prairie and lacrosse at Ohio State, and is a son of ex-Vikings GM Rick Spielman, is head lacrosse coach at Providence Academy.
>> Former Viking Xavier Rhodes sounds the Gjallarhorn at Sunday’s game against the Cardinals.
>> The Gophers baseball team opens its season Feb. 14 at Houston. It will be the first opener in 43 years without John Anderson as head coach.
Anderson, 69, said he’s enjoying retirement.
“It’s been an adjustment at first as you go from being busy, busy, busy, but it was time,” he said. “There are lots of other things in the world to do and to enjoy some of life’s other blessings. I’m in a good place.”
Anderson underwent right eye surgery last summer and needs another surgery on the same eye next month.
>> That was Tom Kelly, Tim Laudner, Jim Rantz, Mark McKenzie and pals celebrating Kent and Kristen Hrbek’s recent wedding at Target Field the other day.
>> The Concordia University-St. Paul baseball program, which McKenzie coached to local prominence, will hold its sellout banquet Feb. 2 at Mancini’s Char House.
>> Former Concordia Academy all-state offensive lineman Andrew Aurich, the Princeton University grad who just completed his first season as head football coach at Harvard, led the Crimson to an 8-2 record and Ivy League co-championship with Dartmouth and Columbia. Aurich will be inducted into the Concordia Hall of Fame on Jan. 3.
>> All of a sudden, the biggest sports names from Forest Lake are Matt Wallner of the Twins and now former Rangers-Princeton basketball player Pete Hegseth, the beset nominee for U.S. Secretary of Defense.
>> Former Forest Lake star Todd Fultz, who is president of the Minnesota Chapter of the National Football Foundation, will receive the chapter’s Leadership Award at the NFF-College Football Hall of Fame dinner in Las Vegas on Dec. 10. Also to be honored: Randy Moss, Larry Fitzgerald, Steve Hutchinson and Toby Gerhart.
>> Former Twins owner Calvin Griffith, who died in 1999, would have turned 113 on Sunday.
>> Side judge Dave Meslow of Mahtomedi just worked his 200th NFL game in Detroit. St. Paul’s Tom Barnes, who these days evaluates Big Ten officials, worked 513 NFL games.
>> Ex-Gopher Erik Johnson from Bloomington skated in his 1,000th regular-season NHL game as his Flyers defeated the Sabres in Philadelphia the other day.
>> Former Gophers: Chris Streveler was a QB and Drew Wolitarsky a receiver for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, who two weeks ago lost 41-24 to the Toronto Argonauts in the Grey Cup CFL championship game.
>> Two Minnesota golf courses — Interlachen in Edina at No. 73 and White Bear Yacht Club at No. 86 — have made Golf Magazine’s 2024-25 Top 100 Golf Courses in the U.S.
>> Early indications are that the bone marrow transplant John Harris underwent on Tuesday for leukemia was a success. Harris, 72, the esteemed former U.S. Amateur golf champion from Minneapolis, has begun a 60-day short-term recovery period with expectations of a return to nearly normal at least nine months out.
>> One of the best athletes in Twin Cities history, Gary Jost, 64, the Hill-Murray grad and former Gophers baseball star, last fall scored two holes-in-one during a single round of golf at Stillwater Country Club. Odds: 64 million to one.
>> University of St. Thomas men’s basketball coach John Tauer will be featured speaker at the Officials and Friends Christmas lunch Dec. 12 at Mancini’s.
>> Marwan Maalouf, a former Vikings assistant, the other day left St. Thomas Academy as admissions director to join the New Orleans Saints as a special teams assistant.
>> The Twin Cities Surly Great Grand Master men’s ultimate frisbee team successfully defended its over-50 world championship by recently defeating teams from Canada, South Korea, Japan and the USA in Irvine, Calif.
Don’t print that
>> Pssst: People who know say the the Pohlad family could fetch at least $1.8 billion from the sale of the Twins, which isn’t expected to officially take place until after next season has begun. A little birdie says interest in buying the club has been “robust” and that multiple viable buyers are expected to bid.
>> The Timberwolves-Lynx ownership arbitration that was to begin Nov. 4 remains hush-hush. Normally, with a sole arbitrator, deals of this magnitude take about 30 days. In this one, there are three arbitrators.
>> It’s probably still too early to offer Vikings QB Sam Darnold a contract extension now. The same for coach Kevin O’Connell, although it seems certain he’ll eventually receive a deal that could nearly double his current salary, estimated at $5 million a year. O’Connell, 39, is signed through 2025.
Regarding the futures of Darnold and O’Connell, with six games remaining in the regular season, five of which are against teams with winning records, anything can still happen.
>> Don’t think Tom Brady, now a minority owner of the Raiders, wouldn’t love to have O’Connell, with whom he was a teammate with the Patriots, coach the Raiders.
>> Certifying the Vikings’ 2002 draft as a colossal bust last week was the release of fourth-round pick Akayleb Evans. Previously gone are first-round pick Lewis Cine and second-round pick Andrew Booth. Also waived last week was seventh-round pick Nick Muse, then relegated to the practice squad. Ed Ingram, also a second-round pick, has been benched.
Draft busts are especially painful for NFL owners because rookie contracts are relatively cheap. Filling the voids with free agents, as the Vikings have had to do, is a lot more expensive.
>> Bloomington Jefferson and Minnesota grad Brian Dutcher, son of former Gophers coach Jim Dutcher, is signed to coach the San Diego State men’s basketball team through the 2027-28 season, the final year for $2.32 million. And there’s a $10.2 million buyout. Still, if the Gophers make a men’s basketball coaching change, there are insiders who haven’t given up on bringing Dutcher home to Minnesota.
>> Koi Perich’s $250,000 name, image and likeness (NIL) deal this season should at least double for the Gophers football star’s sophomore season. For sure, other schools will bid for Perich.
>> Gophers coach P.J. Fleck, whose salary this year is $6.7 million, will get a $100,000 performance bonus for his regular-season 7-5 record.
>> The Gophers announced football home attendance averaged 46,911 per game this season, down an average of 1,542 per game last year in 50,805-capacity Huntington Bank Stadium.
>> Also announced, for its six regular-season games at 14,625-capacity Williams Arena this season, men’s basketball attendance has averaged 7,557.
>> Gophers graduating Max Brosmer won’t be drafted next April, but will get a free agent invitation to some NFL camp, perhaps the Vikings considering their uncertain QB situation.
>> During 16 seasons with the Vikings and Washington, safety Paul Krause had 81 interceptions, still a NFL record. Current Vikings safety Harrison Smith, in 13 seasons, has 36 interceptions.
Krause, 82, who wore No. 22 with the Vikings, was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1998. Smith, 35, who wears jersey No. 22, besides 36 interceptions has 20.5 career sacks.
A future Hall of Famer?
“I’ve learned, being in the Hall of Fame, that you can’t bet on anything,” Krause told the Pioneer Press. “(Former Vikings) Chuck Foreman, Jim Marshall, they should be in the Hall of Fame. You don’t find many Jim Marshalls, and for sure you don’t find very many Chuck Foremans.”
Foreman and Marshall are among 60 finalists for the 2025 Hall of Fame’s Senior Era.
“Smith’s a good football player,” Krause said.
>> It will be surprising if ex-Viking Jared Allen isn’t finally selected for the 2025 Pro Football Hall of Fame class.
>> Among former players being considered for the Baseball Hall of Fame’s Classic Era are Luis Tiant and Dave Parker, both of whom were teammates of Hall of Fame former Twin Bert Blyleven, Parker in Pittsburgh, Tiant with the Twins.
“Dave Parker has Hall of Fame numbers; Louie had 49 shutouts, lot of complete games (187) and he won 20 games four times,” Blyleven said. “I’m pulling for all those guys on the ballot — it’s hard to get in.”
Meanwhile Blyleven, 73, is doing fine after shoulder replacement surgery.
“I’m doing well, playing golf and enjoying life,” he said.
Blyleven will fly from home in Fort Myers, Fla., to the Twin Cities next week to represent the Twins during their annual Holiday Week of Giving.
>> Blyleven mentioned a time when Hall of Famer Yogi Berra was standing on the field at Yankee Stadium with other Hall of Famers when pictures of deceased Yankees were being shown on the Jumbotron.
“Yogi said, ‘boy, I hope I never see my face up there,’” Blyleven said.
>> With his recent visit to Tommy Lasorda’s gravesite in Whittier, Calif., local author Stew Thornley has made it to gravesites of 228 of 273 baseball Hall of Fame players.
>> If Paige Buckers from UConn via Hopkins is the No. 1 overall pick in next April’s WNBA draft, she can expect a first-year salary in the $80,000 range.
>> It’s not exactly a NIL benefit, but a University of St. Thomas football benefactor, who hoped to entice students to remain at designated games rather than leave the stadium early this season, offered a $2,000 tuition benefit to a student still sitting in a seat chosen at random.
>> Southern California, which the Gophers defeated 24-17 this season, has broken ground on a $200 million football training center to be ready in two years. Minnesota still owes $30 million on its $166 million Athletes Village, which opened six years ago.
Meanwhile, Northwestern has begun construction on an $850 million football stadium.
>> It still looks like Duke’s Mayo Bowl for the Gophers against Duke on Jan. 3 in Charlotte.
>> Designated hitter Brent Rooker, released by the Twins two years ago, the other day received a Silver Slugger award, emblematic of being the best offensive player at his position in the American League last season, when he hit .293 with 39 home runs 112 RBIs for the A’s.
>> The hockey world is pulling for recovery from a recent stroke to Ronnie Docken, the former Gophers goaltender from Minneapolis who went on to play for the Johnstown Jets with a big part in the cult film “Slap Shot,” which led to a friendship with star Paul Newman.
>> U.S. Hockey Hall of Famer Reed Larson, who played 14 seasons in the NHL and should be in the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto, possessed one of the hardest shots in the NHL, once clocked at 125-mph. Reed, 68, the former Minneapolis Roosevelt and Gophers defenseman in the insurance business, was a hit speaker at the Old Timers Hockey Association luncheon last week at Mancini’s.
Also attending was Brad Buetow, 74, the former Gophers men’s hockey coach who resides in Colorado Springs and spent 40 years coaching and scouting.
>> New Brighton’s Mike McGraw, who heads the Old Timers, spent 22 years scouting for the Anaheim Ducks and Boston Bruins and has a Stanley Cup ring from the 2011 Bruins season, has decided to retire at age 80.
>> Savion Hart, who rushed for 2,642 yards and 39 TDs for St. Thomas Academy last season, is averaging 6.2 yards per carry as a freshman for Georgetown (5-5).
Overheard
>> Hall of fame retired Gophers baseball coach John Anderson, 69, on the introduction of name, image and likeness (NIL) to collegiate athletics: “As you look around, some of the older coaches in all sports are getting out, and I think that’s what’s driving this. The model is not what we signed up for. The leadership piece, the relationship piece and the mentoring piece sure seems to go to the back seat now. It’s all about money and opportunity — if I don’t get it here, I’m going to the next place.”
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