The Vikings' quarterback conundrum figures to be been one of the hottest topics of 国产外流网conversation this winter in Minnesota and throughout the league.
Minnesota currently employs Comeback of the Year finalist Sam Darnold, coming off a career year but slated to earn a raise in free agency; redshirt first-round rookie J.J. McCarthy, returning from a season-ending knee injury; and Daniel Jones, a former first-round pick of the Giants who finished the 2024 season on the active roster after weeks on the practice squad.
Coming off a 14-3 season, the Vikings would otherwise be expected to run things back with Darnold in the saddle, but his market and McCarthy's return are muddying the waters.
Further complicating things was a report Thursday that Coach of the Year winner Kevin O'Connell told reporters after winning the award that Darnold is going to be a of Minnesota's goal of winning a Super Bowl, implying that the QB would definitely return to the team in 2025.
O'Connell said after 国产外流网Honors that his earlier quote was misconstrued.
"I don't necessarily think that was 100% accurate," O'Connell said during a conference call with Minnesota media, . "It was in the spirit of answering a question about Sam's season, and what he was able to do this year, and then the follow-up in regards to what it's gonna take to win a championship.
"Look, you guys know how I feel about Sam. He is a guy that we identified last year as somebody who could come in and be successful, and really, no matter where he was at before he arrived in his quarterback journey, it was about maximizing our time together. And I think we did that, and I think it was a very special year for Sam. What that earned him is, everybody in our league now thinks he's a bona fide, legitimate starting quarterback in our league and can win a lot of football games. He won 14 of them, so he's earned the right to be a free agent, but we will continue to have ongoing dialogue and discussions with him and his representation."
Darnold balled out on a one-year, $10 million deal in 2024, completing 66.2 percent of his passes for 4,319 yards, 35 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. The former No. 3 overall pick led Minnesota to a 14-3 record, one win away from the NFC's top seed. Unfortunately, Darnold saved his two worst performances for last and left a bad taste in potential suitors' mouths with a wild-card exit.
Behind Darnold this year was McCarthy, who underwent season-ending knee surgery in the preseason and played just one exhibition game for the Vikings. The soon-to-be second-year QB, who O'Connell told 国产外流网Network on Friday is healthy, said this week that he doesn't expect to be handed the starting job once he's healthy and if Darnold returns to the QB room, adding he just wants a "fair opportunity" to start in 2025.
The decision on who will return and start for Minnesota next season is ultimately up to O'Connell, who just signed a multiyear extension in Minnesota, and general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah. Resolution on the matter likely won't come for at least a month, when the new league year begins.
O'Connell isn't looking at his plethora of QB options as an issue over which to be stressed.
"You don't want to call them problems. They are good things to have as an organization," O'Connell said Friday on GMFB: OT. "When you have quarterbacks that have played well enough that, yes, of course you'd love to have all your guys back. You'd love to have those guys back every single year, but they've played so well in our system, in our organization that they may want to be a quarterback for another team in this league. More importantly, other teams in this league might have seen the way they played and said we want a chance to have that guy.
"So that's what this time of year is. It's a constant dialogue, we have great dialogue with our players, and we're just going to try to find a way to build the best possible team in 2025 that we can. We've got to be able to finish better. We want to be one of the teams playing in this game one day, and to do that, there's going to be year-in-and-year-out hard decisions that get made.
"None of those decisions have been made at this point."
