Sam Darnold struggled to find any success in the NFL throughout his first six years after being the third overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft. He started his career with the New York Jets, but he has now played for four different teams. Darnold continued to struggle after leaving New York, but he was finally able to find success this past season with the Minnesota Vikings. However, he struggled toward the end of the year, and now the Vikings have a big decision to make.
When Darnold came to the Vikings, he wasn’t expected to be anything special. Minnesota selected QB JJ McCarthy early in the first round of last year’s NFL Draft, and he was expected to be the future of the franchise. However, an injury in preseason led to Darnold being the guy for the entire season, and he seized his opportunity.
Darnold ended up leading the Vikings to the playoffs last year as they finished the season with a 14-3 record. Darnold did struggle at the end of the year, and the Vikings were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs. Now, the Vikings have to decide if they want to bring Darnold back next year.
“It would not be surprising if the two sides figured out some type of short term contract that enabled the Vikings to get Sam Darnold, and enabled him to get paid, that enabled them to run it back in case JJ McCarthy is not fully ready this season from his knee injury or struggles in the preseason,” ESPN’s Adam Schefter said. “Or experiences any type of setback there is. To me, Sam Darnold to Minnesota makes sense, but now that he’s not going to be tagged, other teams are going to have their say.”
JJ McCarthy is still looked at as the future of this franchise as he was looking impressive in preseason before his injury last year. However, the situation that the Vikings are in now is pretty similar to last year. If anything, it makes more sense to sign Darnold as they know that he is capable of leading the team to success if things aren’t working out with McCarthy. McCarthy seems to have the higher ceiling, but he hasn’t actually played in the NFL yet, so there is still some uncertainty there.
It wouldn’t be a bad idea for the Vikings to bring Sam Darnold back for another season. That doesn’t guarantee that he will win the job over McCarthy, but it does give them a backup plan if things don’t work out with the rookie QB.
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