If the Vikings plan to bring Sam Darnold back for the 2025 season, they’ll have to agree to a new contract with him, likely before the start of free agency next week.
Otherwise, they’ll have a new starting quarterback for the third consecutive year.
The Vikings passed on the most automatic path to Darnold’s return, declining to place the franchise tag on him before Tuesday’s 3 p.m. deadline. The team is still in talks with Darnold about a deal that would bring him back for the 2025 season, sources said, but without a new contract, Darnold would be free to talk to other teams on Monday.
A franchise tag for Darnold would have cost the Vikings $40.24 million for 2025, while ensuring the team could match any free agent offer for Darnold or receive two first-round picks as compensation if he left. Additionally, the Vikings could have traded Darnold after tagging him, though sources said at the NFL combine last week that was unlikely.
As those sources pointed out, tagging Darnold effectively would have given him a no-trade clause, since a new team would want to know whether the quarterback would sign a long-term deal with them before making the trade. If Darnold indicated he didn’t want to sign a long-term deal with a certain team, it would have effectively nixed the trade.
Darnold became one of the surprise stories of the 2024 season, throwing for 35 touchdowns and leading the Vikings to their first 14-win season since 1998, while earning his first Pro Bowl selection. He’d signed a one-year, $10 million deal to be a replacement for Kirk Cousins, seemingly a temporary role after the Vikings drafted quarterback J.J. McCarthy in the first round.
But when McCarthy tore the meniscus in his right knee during the Vikings' first preseason game against the Raiders, it removed any possibility Darnold would face competition during the 2024 season. The 27-year-old thrived as he never had in the NFL, excelling in an offense that capitalized on his arm strength with explosive downfield pass concepts and intermediate in-breaking routes built off those downfield looks. Darnold, the third overall pick in the 2018 draft, had never won more than seven games in a season as a starter; he played himself into the fringes of the MVP conversation in 2024, while earning 15 votes for NFL comeback player of the year despite confusion about whether he would be eligible for the award.
The length of his stay in Minnesota always seemed uncertain, though, given the fact the Vikings had made McCarthy the highest drafted quarterback in franchise history. When the Vikings added former Giants starter Daniel Jones to their practice squad in November, it seemed like they might use him to repeat in 2025 what they did with Darnold in 2024. Jones did not play in a game for the Vikings, but could still return to Minnesota on an affordable deal, giving them a veteran option that could reboot his career under coach Kevin O’Connell and start the year at quarterback if the Vikings wanted more time to get McCarthy ready after his knee injury ended his rookie year.
