Getty
Former Minnesota Vikings quarterback Sam Darnold.
The Minnesota Vikings got a Pro Bowl performance out of quarterback Sam Darnold last season, but whether he can sustain that level of play moving forward remains a serious question.
The Seattle Seahawks paid Darnold north of $100 million on a three-year contract in free agency to lure him away from Minnesota, which wasn’t going to put up anywhere near that kind of investment with second-year QB and 2024 No. 10 overall draft pick J.J. McCarthy waiting in the wings.
However, the way the Seahawks set up the contract, the team can part ways with Darnold relatively painlessly after just one year. That Seattle spent a third-round pick on former Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe at the end of April was the exact opposite of a vote of confidence in Darnold.
The team still has wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba, who was the NFL’s top producer out of the slot last season, and acquired star wideout Cooper Kupp during the offseason. As such, Darnold will have some weapons to help him, but there isn’t a great deal of confidence from analysts around the league that the 27-year-old signal caller will retain his starting job beyond the 2025 campaign.
“Sam Darnold’s contract doesn’t leave Seattle exposed beyond 2025, so it’s safe to assume this is a one-year audition,” Brad Gagnon of Bleacher Report wrote on Friday, May 9. “Based on what happened at the end of last season, there’s a good chance he fails.”
Sam Darnold Made Most of Single Season in Minnesota
GettyFormer Minnesota Vikings quarterback Sam Darnold.
Darnold earned his deal from Seattle, which includes $52.5 million guaranteed and a $37.5 million signing bonus, by leading Minnesota to a 14-3 regular season record last year and the top NFC wildcard playoff seed (No. 5 overall) after losing the NFC North Division battle to the Detroit Lions in the final week of the campaign.
The QB finished the year with career highs in passing yards (4,319) and touchdowns passes (35), per Pro Football Reference. He also threw just 12 interceptions.
That Darnold would win the starting job ahead of the 2024 campaign after the Vikings brought him in on just a one-year contract was far from a given. McCarthy entered training camp with more or less an equal claim on the QB1 spot until he suffered a knee injury in August. That injury required two surgeries to repair and kept McCarthy sidelined for the entirety of his rookie campaign.
J.J. McCarthy Has Gained Belief of Vikings Teammates Early in Offseason
GettyQuarterback J.J. McCarthy of the Minnesota Vikings.
Now 22 years old, McCarthy enters training camp as the Vikings’ presumed starter.
Minnesota executed a trade with the Seahawks for Sam Howell, who is entering his fourth professional season in 2025 and is the favorite to win the backup QB job behind McCarthy.
McCarthy’s teammates have raved about him, both in terms of his physical talent and personality, after just a handful of offseason workouts together.
“A sick arm. I remember catching passes from [Matthew Stafford], and it was one of those balls where it just zips on ya,” tight end T.J. Hockenson said of McCarthy on the May 5 edition of the “Green Light with Chris Long” podcast. “It looks like it’s not coming, but it’s coming. And J.J.’s got the juice behind it where it kind of has that effect.”
“He’s got insane arm talent,” Hockenson continued. “And really the personality that he has goes really well [with out team], and I think he’s gonna have a long career.”
Max Dible covers the NFL, NBA and MLB for Heavy.com, with a focus on the Green Bay Packers, Minnesota Vikings, Chicago Bears and Cleveland Browns. He covered local and statewide news as a reporter for West Hawaii Today and served as news director for BigIslandNow.com and Pacific Media Group’s family of Big Island radio stations before joining Heavy. More about Max Dible
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