My take on some of their fans.
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To his credit, O'Connell got as much out of Darnold as can be gotten. The first 16 games before the implosion were his zenith. Next year, he'll make a better backup for some team. McCarthy is a project who may have some success in preseason and early, but he's not ready to lead a team; he's certainly no Daniels. I wonder if Jefferson is regretting resigning with MN yet?
Or not on JJ. After all, his post season stats are dwarfed by the other immortal JJ, Jeff Janis.
Not to mention Bo Melton has more post season touchdowns than him. 
History kind of repeats itself? Sam Darnold as Randall Cunningham who had a career year and the team failed after a surprisingly great season, to be replaced by a top-15 draft pick (Culpepper/McCarthy) who blew out his knee.
Do they have another 41-donut to look forward to?
@Herschel posted:History kind of repeats itself? Sam Darnold as Randall Cunningham who had a career year and the team failed after a surprisingly great season, to be replaced by a top-15 draft pick (Culpepper/McCarthy) who blew out his knee.
Do they have another 41-donut to look forward to?
I do think history will repeat itself. There is no way that Darnold can continue to play with that lucky horseshoe up his ass. DCs will figure out how to pressure him more and that will lead to more mistakes.
@Fandame posted:To his credit, O'Connell got as much out of Darnold as can be gotten. The first 16 games before the implosion were his zenith. Next year, he'll make a better backup for some team. McCarthy is a project who may have some success in preseason and early, but he's not ready to lead a team; he's certainly no Daniels. I wonder if Jefferson is regretting resigning with MN yet?
I saw it reported that Darnold may be a Raider, next year. I kind of wish he stays in Minnesota, after the Packers improve their pass rush.
@The Heckler posted:I do think history will repeat itself. There is no way that Darnold can continue to play with that lucky horseshoe up his ass. DCs will figure out how to pressure him more and that will lead to more mistakes.
All the tape opposing coaches need to prepare for the Darnold led vikings are from the last regular season Detroit game and this year's playoff Rams game. Opponents should be able to make mincemeat out of the porous viking OL, if Darnold is the viking QB, next season. I cannot see the viking OL improving much, next season, unless Kwesi breaks the bank to go after OL guys with the limited draft capital he has to work with.
I don't think Darnold was lucky, it's just that teams hadn't committed to hitting him. How it took defenses until WK17 to figure it out is beyond me. (Actually their final drive of WK16 when Hafley started getting to him.)
MIN has the 8th most cap space currently (GB #14). They also have a lot of FA's but no really huge ones other than if they try to resign Darnold for another year. They have plenty of space to improve the OL.
That said, I'm sure KOC isn't going to pretend their last two games didn't happen. It's a similar situation to what LAR had with Goff, seeing them win a lot of games but unable to get over the hump, then trading for Stafford because they didn't have a RD1 pick waiting in the wings. But it may not matter who is behind center if they don't either improve their pass blocking or adjust the plays/playcalling to help neutralize the pass rush.
@DH13 posted:I don't think Darnold was lucky, it's just that teams hadn't committed to hitting him. How it took defenses until WK17 to figure it out is beyond me. (Actually their final drive of WK16 when Hafley started getting to him.)
MIN has the 8th most cap space currently (GB #14). They also have a lot of FA's but no really huge ones other than if they try to resign Darnold for another year. They have plenty of space to improve the OL.
That said, I'm sure KOC isn't going to pretend their last two games didn't happen. It's a similar situation to what LAR had with Goff, seeing them win a lot of games but unable to get over the hump, then trading for Stafford because they didn't have a RD1 pick waiting in the wings. But it may not matter who is behind center if they don't either improve their pass blocking or adjust the plays/playcalling to help neutralize the pass rush.
It didnt help that somehow in the second packer viking game our D was betraying a ātellā that let the Viking OL figure where our pressure was coming from.
I hadn't heard of that. How the hell did they let that happen?
The tell was ā we have no consistent pass rushā we all saw it.
The "tell" was the Vikings were allowed to hold the Packers D-Line with no calls. Yet interestingly enough got called for that shit vs. Detoilet and the Rams. Hmm.... š¤
I work as a substitute teacher in Southern Orange County with Sam Darnoldās grandmother and grandfather. Iāve talked to Gramps in the past told him Iām a Packer fan and congrats to his grandson on finally getting good cosching. Asked him today where Sam was headed and he noted that free agency hadnt started but Sam loved the Vikings, the coaches, everything and wants to return. I brought up the Raiders and he scoffed so I dont think Sam is going to Vegas. What will intrigue me is if the Vikes offer a one year $25 million deal and some other team waves a four year $100 million plus offer possibly with guaranteed money and performance incentives.
i just dont think McCarthy is the answer.
Good report. The Vikes should try and keep him IMO.
Of course he loves it in MIN. They turned him into a very good starting QB after falling heavily into the RD1 bust bin. KOC just has to decide if he thinks he can fix the QB pressure issue; i.e. more QB coaching, improved OL, improved play calling.
But you have to wonder if KOC isn't looking at Darnold the same way LAR looked at Goff before trading for Stafford. They decided Goff couldn't get that team a SB win, despite his W/L record. KOC was in LAR at that time and was probably part of that decision.
If the Vikings want him to play backup - Sam will be scoffing at them & most likely take highest bidder (Vegas or someone else). It's an interesting situation because McCarthy won't want to sit all year as a backup either.
The Vikings have a problem.
Fact is there are SO MANY teams currently without a good starting option at QB, and the draft stinks this year. Why Viking fans think McCarthy would give them a #1 in the draft. Dreaming.
@YATittle posted:... What will intrigue me is if the Vikes offer a one year $25 million deal and some other team waves a four year $100 million plus offer possibly with guaranteed money and performance incentives.
i just dont think McCarthy is the answer.
Good info, YA, and I agree with everything except the 1 yr/$25M theory.
If the Vikings make him a 1-year offer, I think they have to be at least $40M to be a player. The 2024 franchise tag was North of $38M, and that's just a starting point for determining an offer.
AMOF, that might be closer to $50M.
Kyler Murray had the 10th highest salary in 2024 at $46M, and the argument can easily be made he is/was a Top 10 QB. Considering guys like Love at $55M, and Goff at $$53M, and it's easy to see where cost is headed.
Nothing they can do, really, it's just the going rate for starting QBs.
You are right about another team offering a multi-deal year, but I think it would come down to the guarantee being high enough.
I've read reports ("rumors") that the Vikes may make Darnold a long-term offer, and trade JJM for more draft picks. It does make some sense given the lack of picks they have in the draft, but I tend to doubt anybody would give up a high 1st round pick +. At best, maybe a conditional 3rd round (to a 2nd), and some middle- to lower-round picks spread out over a couple of years.
How many draft picks do you think an unproven QB who hasn't played a down coming off of knee surgery is worth?
Also a guy that the team who drafted you chose Sam Darnold instead.
Youāre probably right on the one year offer amount. I woukd take the $40 mil if i were him and see if i can doit again.
They would be wise to not put all their eggs in one basket at the QB position. There is no guaranty that JJM will be ready to play this year or even amount to anything. Darnold wants to stay in Minnesota. The best outcome for them is to keep both and develop JJM for a year or two. But again, it's the queens we're talking about.
Based upon the relative success of the other QB's taken last year, the Vike fans are assuming JJ will be better because he's younger and better than Nix and Pennix.
#logic
They would be better off keeping Darnold and JJM. It's telling that from the very start of camps last year, KOC came out and flatly said that Darnold would start. There was never any doubt that JJM was not ready. A year later and major knee surgery, I don't think there's any change in that position.
DJones is a free agent, and rumor is that he may end up in LA with McVay, which might be a career-saving move for him. Or, maybe he resigns with MN and starts as the #1 in camp and hopes for a reboot like Darnold got from KOC.
Let's see how MN screws this up.
Good story in today's LA Times about the Stafford situation. He's 37 and still seems to have it BUT there were times this year he was looking pretty old and McVay was not happy about the holdout during the draft and training camp this year. They will have to tweak his contract as his pay is much less than current market rate.
@YATittle posted:... They will have to tweak his contract as his pay is much less than current market rate.
When I was looking at contract details before replying to your previous post above, it was surprising, if not shocking, to see where some of the better QBs make much less than their counterparts who signed contracts over the last 2 years.
Mahomes is a 'steal' at $45M/yr, and he's under contract until 2030!
Even D Watson's avg/yr, once the worst contract ever (until D Prescott's deal), now seems comparatively cheap.
With the market being reset with every new contract, QBs might as well move to 1 or 2 year contracts...