ESPN Analyst Warns against Popular Vikings QB Idea
If you thought Kirk Cousins-themed debates were exhausting, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.
ESPN Analyst Warns against Popular Vikings QB Idea
Before too long, the Minnesota Vikings must decide to keep Sam Darnold at a price tag of $40 million or more, let him depart via free agency to a new team, or franchise-tag-and-trade him for a draft pick(s).
Darnold has accumulated 36 total touchdowns so far in 2024, while his team owns a 14-2 record. Minnesota drafted rookie passer J.J. McCarthy from Michigan last April, but the youngster tore his meniscus in August, ending his entire season.
And lately, momentum has accrued for Minnesota to keep Darnold in 2025, mainly because the guy is just too good. A hefty faction of Vikings fans have warmed up to the idea and are unafraid to endorse it with a full throat.
But according to ESPN’s Dan Graziano, Minnesota should be leery of extending Darnold, even if the man has nibbled at MVP consideration this season. “I think it’s going to be very expensive to keep him, and I don’t know — they have the 10th pick in this year’s draft on the roster. I know he got hurt, he couldn’t play. But I think — this is the best year Sam Darnold’s ever had, like easily, right?” Graziano said on Get Up this week.
Thankfully for Minnesota’s sake, this is a “good problem.” Nobody much complains when a football team has too many productive quarterback options.
“If you play roulette and you put all your money on number 17, and it comes up, and you hit it, you don’t put it all right back on 17. You keep the money. The reason you pay Justin Jefferson $36 million a year, and you know you can get away with that, is because you know you’re going to have a rookie quarterback contract for the next three or four years of J.J. McCarthy. I don’t think Sam Darnold fits with the Vikings’ long-term team-building philosophy,” Graziano continued.
Darnold could cost as much as $50 million per season in 2025.
Graziano concluded, “Unless he’s willing to take a team-friendly deal, I don’t think it’s a responsible decision to bring him back.”
Write this down: the Darnold decision will boil down to money. The Vikings just ended a six-year era of paying Kirk Cousins fat stacks of cash. Darnold will require the same, and Minnesota’s front office must decide if Darnold, like Cousins, is worth it.
Otherwise, McCarthy will be guaranteed affordable for the next four seasons. Minnesota could sign about 3-6 impact free agents for the price of Darnold.
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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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