It appears that Sam Darnold could be headed to market.
After weighing all of their options, the Vikings did not place the franchise tag on Darnold ahead of Tuesday’s deadline to do so. As a result, Darnold, who turns 28 years old in a few months, has the ability to sign elsewhere when free agency opens next week.
“He’s in a position where the NFL thinks he can play quarterback at a high level,” head coach Kevin O’Connell said last week at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis. “That’s a really good thing. I feel very proud to be a part of helping him get to this point. Now, we’ll see where it goes from here.”
The franchise tag would have paid Darnold roughly $40 million next season, and while the Vikings would have gained exclusive rights to him if they opted for that route, they clearly weren’t interested in him eating up that much cap space given the many areas of need across the roster.
After doing some digging last week at the NFL Combine, the Vikings also must have come to the conclusion that there wasn’t a team interested in trading any sort of draft capital for Darnold at that price point.
Although the Vikings reportedly still have interest in working out a new deal with Darnold, they might have to bid against other teams, which could include the Las Vegas Raiders, Pittsburgh Steelers and Tennessee Titans, among others.
The fact that Darnold will be so coveted in free agency speaks to how impressive he was for prolonged stretches last season.
Not only did Darnold help the Vikings shock the league with a 14-3 regular-season record, he slowly started to look the part of a franchise quarterback in the process, completing 66.2 percent of passes for 4,319 yards and 35 touchdowns.
The magic appeared to run out for Darnold down the stretch, however, as he crumbled under pressure in a 31-9 loss to the Detroit Lions, then struggled mightily in a 27-9 loss to the Los Angeles Rams. As much as the Vikings will take both games into account heading into free agency next week, there’s still a chance they could work something out with Darnold that will keep him in Minnesota moving forward.
In that scenario, Darnold would take some pressure off of J.J. McCarthy, allowing him to be brought along slowly after he missed all of last season with a torn meniscus.
“We’re in a position where we have options,” general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah said at the NFL Combine. “We’ll continue to work those options and figure out the best way for the Vikings to move forward.”
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