After turning in a 2024 regular season performance that was good enough to see him finish third overall in Comeback Player of the Year voting, Sam Darnold quickly came back down to earth upon entering the playoffs. An embarrassing 27-9 Wild Card loss to the Los Angeles Rams may have cost him a great deal of cash, but at least the majority of the season occurs before January.
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In a quarterback-hungry league, there will still be plenty of potential suitors for the 27-year-old journeyman. Even if they are simply hoping to use him as a bridge, Darnold’s breakout year proved that there is a place for him in the NFL.
While many expected the free agency talks surrounding the former New York Jet to cool off considerably following his career-defining loss, The Athletics’ NFL insider, Dianna Russini, is still predicting a robust market.
On the latest episode of The Rich Eisen Show, Russini explained that the desperation for a signal caller in the league will result in a deserved payday for Darnold.
“You never go to the grocery store hungry, and there are teams starving right now… I don’t know if this could’ve turned out any better for Sam Darnold… I have a very strong feeling that Sam Darnold is going to have a very fat, saturated market… He deserves it. Sam Darnold deserves to be paid after having a Pro Bowl season.”
Shattering his career highs with 4,319 passing yards and 35 passing touchdowns, the one-off Minnesota Viking will now hope that Russini’s words come to fruition despite having seemingly proven that he is a non-playoff caliber quarterback.
Seeing as the 14-win season was capped off by a pair of disastrous performances, in addition to the fact that Minnesota just spent first-round draft capital on J.J. McCarthy, head coach Kevin O’Connell showed no hesitation in stating that Darnold is headed for free agency.
Vikings make their stance on Darnold clear
In the build up to Super Bowl LIX, O’Connell went on the record, stating
“…We wanted to have a guy that we thought we could win football games with, while still attempting to draft our quarterback of the future… To have J.J. McCarthy now healthy, going to have a full offseason. I think it’s going to be really exciting”
Having gotten what they needed from Darnold, the Vikings are unlikely to extend his visit unless he’s willing to sign another lowbrow, one-year deal. Considering that franchise tagging a quarterback isn’t necessarily cheap either, it seems relatively safe to suggest that Darnold has played his last down as a Viking.
Postseason concerns will be a factor for him for the remainder of his career, but the skillset and age profile of Darnold will be more than enough to see him sign a more favorable deal this offseason. He may never be considered as an elite option, but he can continue to be the role-playing hero that many franchises are in need of right now.
