Six games into the season, it’s easy to second-guess the Minnesota Vikings’ plan at quarterback. J.J. McCarthy had one good quarter in his first two games. While Carson Wentz stabilized the position for a few weeks, his performance against the Philadelphia Eagles confirmed that the Vikings had not unearthed 1998 Randall Cunningham or 2017 Case Keenum.
With the plan in shambles, it’s easy to scoff at Minnesota’s decisions. Some believe the Vikings should have traded all of their first-round picks to the New England Patriots to acquire Drake Maye. Others think they should have made a better offer to Daniel Jones. There’s even a group that would have sold its soul to have Aaron Rodgers leading a charge to the Super Bowl.
Some of these theories are rooted in hindsight. However, the most justifiable criticism concerns the failure to place the franchise tag on Sam Darnold.
Darnold’s case was an intriguing one heading into last season. One of the biggest busts in the modern NFL. Many Vikings fans groaned when the team signed Darnold moments after Kirk Cousins left for the Atlanta Falcons in March 2024. Even nine games into the season, some fans were out on Darnold when he tossed three interceptions in a narrow victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars.
This, paired with a two-game collapse at the end of last season, stuck in the minds of Vikings fans even as Darnold was projected to make over $40 million per year heading into the 2025 season. Still, there was a compelling argument to keep Darnold in the building.
For starters, Darnold played at an MVP level for most of last season. He threw for 4,319 yards, 35 touchdowns, and 12 interceptions. He led the Vikings to a 14-win season. If it weren’t for the NFL’s warped playoff seeding rules, Minnesota could have been a high seed at the end of the year and even had a chance for home-field advantage going into its regular-season finale against the Detroit Lions.
Vikings fans know what happened from there. Darnold froze under Detroit’s pressure, completing just 18 of 41 passes for 166 scoreless yards in that Week 18 loss. He followed it up with another clunker, completing 25 of 40 passes for 245 yards, a touchdown, and an interception in a playoff loss to the Los Angeles Rams.
The final images of Darnold in a Vikings uniform were Jared Verse executing a Tsunami splash in the middle of the game and Paul Allen turning purple in the broadcast booth as Darnold held on to the ball. But it’s fair to ask how many quarterbacks could have done better behind that faltering offensive line.
The Vikings were without Christian Darrisaw, and his replacement, Cam Robinson, turned out to be a pressure king down the stretch. Minnesota was also using backup-caliber players at both guard spots (Blake Brandel, Dalton Risner) and a center (Garrett Bradbury), and they struggled to stop anyone during his time in Minnesota.
Still, there were good reasons to keep Darnold around. First, McCarthy didn’t get a single practice rep last season due to the knee injury he suffered during the 2024 preseason. While the Vikings were high on McCarthy, not going into the offseason without a suitable backup plan could have been a mistake. It’s one that played out during the course of this season.
Darnold is also the type of quarterback Kevin O’Connell likes to work with. With Wentz under center, his playcalling has echoed that of a stubborn Madden player. However, O’Connell could have kept the same playbook, hunting big plays downfield with Darnold and giving McCarthy all the time he needed to work on his fundamentals in his age-22 season.
Of course, there are the finances. The franchise tag would have cost the Vikings $40.24 million in cap space this season. However, it would have also given them control over their quarterback situation. Instead of allowing the Seattle Seahawks to give Darnold an offer they wouldn’t match, they could have given him a short-term offer that would have taken up less cap space and given themselves options heading into next season.
For example, if McCarthy wasn’t ready, the Vikings could have allowed Darnold to play this season on the tag, let the young QB develop, and hopefully take off in his age-23 season in 2026. The blowback to this would be that Darnold would take up a large chunk of the cap space that was used for a spending spree last offseason, but those moves haven’t turned out to be significant upgrades.
Byron Murphy Jr.’s three-year, $54 million contract was considered to be a bargain. But his 52.4-overall grade is 95th among qualifying cornerbacks this season, according to Pro Football Focus.
Will Fries was also celebrated as the guard Vikings fans always wanted, but his 57.6-overall grade ranks 47th among qualifiers. In the first year of a five-year, $87 million contract, his overall grade is also similar to Risner’s, who has a 56.8 grade with the Cincinnati Bengals.
Jonathan Allen (three years, $51 million) and Javon Hargrave (two years, $30 million) were supposed to be upgrades along the defensive line. But their deficiencies against the run have them taking a backseat to Levi Drake Rodriguez and Jalen Redmond, and have Vikings fans wondering why they traded Harrison Phillips.
Ryan Kelly’s unfortunate injury also made his signing a wash. However, Bradbury appears to have addressed the pass-blocking deficiencies that have defined his career, with five pressures in seven games for the New England Patriots this season.
Together, these signings account for roughly $31.5 million against Minnesota’s salary cap. While Fries and Murphy may have been considered necessary, many of the other signings were overkill. That money could have been spent on a franchise tag for Darnold, who is picking up where he left off in Seattle.
O’Connell is the Wolverine meme right now, gently touching a photo of him being mobbed by his teammates last December. Darnold leads the league in yards per attempt (9.1), air yards per attempt (9.45), and net yards per attempt (8.44) after Monday night’s win over the Houston Texans. It also would have been a lot nicer for McCarthy to go through O’Connell’s Miyagi-like training montage behind Darnold and be ready to hit the ground running in 2026.
With owners obsessed with being “super competitive” at all times, this was probably the best route to take. Instead, the Vikings must make do with what they have and hope that it can help this season not go to waste.