Adam Schefter Has Cryptic Prediction for Sam Darnold
Most Minnesota Vikings fans are living in the moment, enjoying the team’s 13-2 record and daydreaming about the franchise’s chances of winning its first-ever Super Bowl.
Adam Schefter Has Cryptic Prediction for Sam Darnold
Others, like ESPN’s Adam Schefter, are peeking ahead to March, when NFL roster movement will heat up. It just so happens that the Vikings employ a quarterback who will be highly sought after if he doesn’t return to the Twin Cities.
He’s Sam Darnold, a man fully effectuating a reclamation season in Minnesota. According to Schefter, Darnold might have a robust market in a couple of months, and the ESPN voice even sounded a bit cryptic about Darnold’s prospects.
“This is going to continue to become an interesting storyline. To date the Vikings and Sam Darnold haven’t had any discussions aimed at a long-term contract extension. I think that they figure, ‘Let’s just let this play out and see where it goes.’ But with every week that Sam Darnold continues to play like this, you just look at the quarterback market this offseason I can count, right now, minimum of seven teams that are going to need a new quarterback for next year,” Schefter said this week The Pat McAfree Show.
Darnold is on pace for 4,300 passing yards and 38 touchdowns by season’s end in 2025.
Schefter continued, “There are, in this upcoming draft, two quarterbacks that I think teams feel strongly about in Shedeur Sanders and Cam Ward. Those quarterbacks will go to two of those teams, that leaves us with five teams with major quarterback questions. There aren’t enough quarterbacks to satisfy the teams that have a quarterback need, which is why that plays right into Sam’s bargaining power. So, the question becomes, how much will he command (on the) market? What will some teams be willing to commit to him?”
Darnold’s rumor mill will turn white-hot when the Vikings’ season ends, but for now, such destinations like the Los Angeles Rams, Seattle Seahawks, New York Giants, and Tennessee Titans have been whispered. A fringe theory suggests the San Francisco 49ers could choose a more affordable Darnold or an expensive Brock Purdy.
Schefter concluded and added the cryptic part: “Then Minnesota has to make a decision, ‘OK, do we want to go commit to this guy?’ I think there’s going to be some intriguing scenarios out there for Sam Darnold.”
Usually when Schefter says something like “intriguing scenarios” with a smile, it means he knows one or two mind-boggling possibilities. While it’s unclear how that could apply to Darnold, he might be hinting at the 49ers angle or a New York Jets reunion.
The Jets drafted Darnold third overall in the 2018 NFL Draft but gave up on him after three seasons. Re-signing Darnold might be a little wacky, but stranger things have happened.
NFL free agency is 75 days away.
Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. Subscribe to his daily YouTube Channel, VikesNow. The show features guests, analysis, and opinion on all things related to the purple team, with 4-7 episodes per week. His Vikings obsession dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ Basset Hounds, and The Doors (the band). He follows the NBA as closely as the NFL.
All statistics provided by Pro Football Reference / Stathead; all contractual information provided by OverTheCap.com.
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