Remember back in December, after Minnesota Vikings quarterback Sam Darnold authored a game-winning drive at the Seattle Seahawks, and all the rage about his future featured his would-be trade price in the offseason?
A Vikings “Dream Trade” Has Been Identified
Bleacher Report hopes the purple team can rekindle that theory.
Darnold played like an MVP candidate for the 2024 season’s first 16 games, leading onlookers to daydream about what Minnesota could extract from his trade value in the offseason. But with the season on the line — twice — Darnold melted in games against the Detroit Lions and Los Angeles Rams, diminishing his trade value and then some.
Fast forward to February, and Bleacher Report nominated a “dream trade” for each NFL team. For Minnesota, that’s trading Darnold or his teammate J.J. McCarthy. BR’s recommendation was twofold with McCarthy or Darnold, but it really just suggested a Darnold trade.
“The Vikings shouldn’t just let Darnold walk. Tagging the 27-year-old either affords them the same insurance under center the team had in 2024 or gives them all the leverage in trade talks,” Gary Davenport opined.
“That’s where the fun starts. There would be considerable demand for both quarterbacks. Some team desperate for help at the position is going to offer a first-rounder for one of them.”
The NFL’s franchise tag window opened Tuesday and lasts two weeks. Minnesota has 13 days to apply the tag on Darnold, and it’s unclear if they’ll actually use the strategy.
Davenport concluded, “Let the market make what appears to be a toss-up call. Add another Day 1 pick. And do something about a leaky defense that was the team’s undoing a season ago.”
Minnesota, almost certainly, won’t gain a Day 1 pick via a Darnold trade, but Davenport’s article was titled Dream Trades, after all, and it would be quite dreamy for the purple team to fetch a 1st-Rounder for Darnold. In reality, if general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah franchise tag-and-trades his 27-year-old passer, he’d receive a mid-round pick, at best, with the possible extreme upside of a 2nd-Rounder.
Every general manager in the business witnessed Darnold’s two-game debacle, making a Day 1 pick for his services totally unlikely.
As for trading McCarthy, such a maneuver would obliterate Adofo-Mensah’s long-term competitive rebuild plan and whisk Minnesota back to the Kirk Cousins era of roster-building. That is — employing a good-but-not-elite quarterback at a $40 million (or so) price tag and hoping for the best.
If Darnold is traded, the deal would likely go down in the next three weeks.
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 MIN 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.