How much did Sam Darnold cost himself with his performance in the Minnesota Vikings’ final two games of the season? The answer may be less than one might think.
James Palmer of Bleacher Report spoke to several NFL executives who believe that Darnold’s market will not be heavily impacted by his poor end to the season. The biggest reason for that is a relatively thin quarterback market and a larger group of needy teams.
“I talked to an executive in the AFC, an executive in the NFC yesterday, and they told me the same thing: there are too many quarterback-needy teams out there to have his market dramatically change, even after these two games,” Palmer said. “They both told me the perception of his turnaround has been altered more than his market, and it’s because there’s more teams and there’s fewer quarterbacks.
“There’s several teams looking for quarterbacks. I’m told by both these guys he is still belle of the ball at the top of the free agent market class, and one of them told me it may not even be close. He’s still just 27 years old. I was also told by both of them his market appears, right now, to still be $30 million or more per year. It hasn’t really dropped all that much in anybody’s mind.”
After an excellent season, Darnold fell flat on his face in two big games at the end, as the Vikings lost the NFC North title to Detroit in Week 18 and were then blown out by the Rams in the NFC Wild Card round. Darnold was poor in both games while facing heavy pressure, including nine sacks at the hands of the Rams. Those showings prompted a lot of jokes about how much money he had cost himself, but that may have been an overreaction.
Overall, Darnold threw for 4,319 yards and 35 touchdowns to go with 12 interceptions in 2024. There are plenty of teams that need a quarterback and would gladly take a stat line like that, even if doubts linger about Darnold’s viability for a contender.
