Vikings Fans Must Sift through More Sam Darnold Speculation

Jeffrey Becker-Imagn Images.

The Minnesota Vikings are not going to franchise tag Sam Darnold. They brought him in as a bridge quarterback that would eventually give way to first-round draft pick J.J. McCarthy. Of course, that didn’t happen in year one because the veteran was great, and the rookie suffered a season-ending knee injury.

Vikings Fans Must Sift through More Sam Darnold Speculation

Despite Kirk Cousins being nowhere near the Minnesota Vikings this offseason, the entire storyline has been surrounding what the franchise will do at quarterback. The obvious hope was that general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah could generate a trade market for his starting quarterback and flip him after utilizing the franchise tag.

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Now we know that won’t happen as the deadline has passed. That’s great news for Darnold as he seeks a long-term extension that will allow him to capitalize on the first real value he has ever shown in his career. For Vikings fans, though, it generates another week of obnoxious news.

NFL free agency doesn’t officially open until March 12 this season. That means Minnesota Vikings fans must endure more stories about the possibility that Darnold returns. That might make sense if he was again willing to play for $10 million. It doesn’t make sense for a quarterback that should be seeking upwards of $30 million annually.

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The Vikings are the entire reason that Darnold is in position for a payday in the first place. Kevin O’Connell and the talent around Darnold are exactly why he gets to angle for a payday. There’s no reason to think that veteran Daniel Jones couldn’t experience the same success or that youngster J.J. McCarthy can’t be everything the franchise expected him to be.

It makes zero sense for the Vikings to bring back Darnold. He isn’t going to settle for anything less than $20 million a year, and he shouldn’t. Minnesota has enough cap space to make that work, but they also have so many more pressing needs. It doesn’t make sense to waste a sizable amount of their cap space on a quarterback that they helped to generate into a success story.

John Jones-Imagn Images.

Ultimately, it should be expected that Darnold finds a new home, with a long-term deal, through free agency. However, we’ll need to sit through a week’s worth of annoying reports until that comes to fruition.

Ted Schwerzler is a blogger from the Twin Cities that is focused on all things Minnesota Twins and Minnesota Vikings. He’s active on Twitter and writes daily for Minnesota Sports Fan. As a former college athlete and avid sports fan, covering our pro teams with a passion has always seemed like such a natural outlet.