The Minnesota Vikings are in a tricky situation with quarterback Sam Darnold, and they may not want to use the franchise tag to retain him for 2025.
Darnold is set to be a free agent. The Vikings can use the franchise tag on Darnold, which is priced at $41.3 million for 2025, or try to sign him to a long-term deal. They could also just let him walk in free agency if they think he will be making more money than they want to pay him.
ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler appeared on “SportsCenter” Thursday and discussed Darnold’s status with the Vikings. Fowler said the Vikings are open to signing Darnold, but it’s unlikely the team uses the franchise tag on the quarterback.
“I’m told that the Minnesota Vikings are open to doing a deal with Sam Darnold. People I’ve talked to around the league believe that the franchise tag is not the likeliest path that Minnesota would take. That’s a high number of around $40 million. So, Minnesota’s stance seems to be that they’re not going to mortgage the future for Sam Darnold,” Fowler reported.
“If he’s getting major bank with another team somewhere else, they probably won’t mortgage their future in that regard. But they’re certainly open to having him back. They love having him.”
Darnold had a big season in his first year in Minnesota. He passed for 4,319 yards, 35 touchdowns and 12 interceptions, while helping the Vikings achieve a 14-3 record. But Minnesota also drafted J.J. McCarthy in the first round last year and plans to have him be their starting quarterback eventually.
“What was made clear to me is J.J. McCarthy is the franchise quarterback at some point. Whether that’s six months from now, 12 months, 18 months, they have not made that firm determination yet. But he will be the guy. So whoever steps in this year is essentially a bridge quarterback,” Fowler said.
Though the Vikings posted their most regular-season wins since 1998, they lost to the Rams in the wild card round of the playoffs, which was a big disappointment. They may not feel like Darnold can take them all the way and could feel like McCarthy might be that guy.
As far as the franchise tag goes, there was some thought that the team might want to use it on Byron Murphy Jr. However, the two sides agreed to a deal that would prevent the Vikings from using the franchise tag on the cornerback.
A source confirmed @DanGrazianoESPN’s report the Vikings have pushed back Byron Murphy Jr.’s void date to the last day before free agency, giving the team more time to work on a deal with the cornerback.
— Ben Goessling (@BenGoessling) February 18, 2025
Murphy’s deal was set to void this week. As part of the agreement, the…
The Vikings are going to be spending money this offseason, it’s just unclear if some of that money will be spent on Darnold.
