A few weeks ago, the Minnesota Vikings still appeared to be heading toward a 2025 offseason where they would replace Sam Darnold with J.J. McCarthy as the team's starting quarterback. But in his last several games under center for the Vikings, Darnold has made the team's quarterback situation for next year a lot more uncertain.
On Sunday, Darnold helped Minnesota pummel the Atlanta Falcons by 21 points with a monster performance that saw him throw for 347 yards, five touchdowns, and no interceptions. Add these numbers to some of his recent totals, and since Week 11, he's thrown for a total of 1,158 yards (290 per contest), 11 touchdowns, and zero interceptions.
Following Sunday's win over the Falcons, Darnold's passing numbers for the 2024 season are up to 3,299 yards, 28 touchdowns, 10 interceptions, and a 108.1 rating. His performance this year is exactly what people believed he was capable of when he was the No. 3 pick in the 2018 NFL Draft and it's now the reason why the Vikings re-signing him in 2025 is much more believable than it was even just a month ago.
Minnesota Vikings should at least consider re-signing Sam Darnold during the 2025 offseason
Halfway through the 2024 season, the odds of Minnesota re-signing Darnold next year still seemed to be fairly low. But with how well he has played during the last few weeks, the Vikings would be foolish to not at least consider bringing him back in 2025.
With Darnold starting every game this season, Minnesota has an 11-2 record after 13 matchups, their best start since 2009. Obviously, there are multiple reasons why the Vikings have been able to be so successful this year, but the performance of their quarterback is certainly one of them.
Before, it seemed like Darnold leading Minnesota to a Super Bowl appearance was the only way the team was going to re-sign him in 2025. But now, especially after throwing five touchdowns on Sunday, the Vikings might already be interested in bringing him back for another season.
Darnold is clearly a great fit for the offense that Minnesota head coach Kevin O'Connell likes to run, his teammates love him, and he's still 27-years-old (which is younger than Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes).
Those are the pros of re-signing the veteran quarterback next year. The cons have to do with how much it will cost to re-sign Darnold and what bringing him back could mean for McCarthy's future with the Vikings.
Considering how the early portion of his NFL career with the New York Jets and Carolina Panthers was a disaster, Darnold could potentially be more open to returning to Minnesota next year at a price that won't crater the team's salary cap space in order to continue working with O'Connell and the Vikings' coaching staff.
This doesn't mean that he would be willing to sign something cheap, but maybe he would be fine with a deal that pays him slightly more than what Baker Mayfield received from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last March (three years, $100 million).
At a price like that, Minnesota would still have enough cap space to extend other current players and add new ones in free agency. Currently, OverTheCap.com projects the Vikings to have more than $76 million in cap space in 2025.
Minnesota already knows Darnold can be successful in the team's offense, and while plenty are excited about McCarthy's potential, the same currently can't be said for the rookie quarterback.
McCarthy is also still only 21-years-old. Hypothetically, the Vikings could wait until the beginning of the 2027 season to make him the starter, and he would still only be 24-years-old, which happens to be the current age of Denver Broncos rookie quarterback Bo Nix.
So, regardless of what happens during the next few weeks, Minnesota will need to figure out exactly how much they are truly willing to spend on someone who has already proven that they can play at a high level while running the team's offense.