On Thursday, Minnesota Vikings quarterback Sam Darnold, head coach Kevin O'Connell, and Brian Flores were all revealed to be nominees for awards at this season's NFL Honors ceremony.
Darnold is a finalist for the AP NFL Comeback Player of the Year award, O'Connell is a finalist for the AP NFL Coach of the Year award, and Flores is a finalist for the AP NFL Assistant Coach of the Year award.
On their official X account, the Vikings made a post for each award nomination, and X user VikingzFanPage noticed that the enthusiasm in one post didn't exactly match the other two.
The tone of Darnold’s tweet compared to the other two 😭 pic.twitter.com/lT4QNsfTjP
— VikingzFanPage (@vikingzfanpage) January 23, 2025
Even the Minnesota Vikings social media team knows Sam Darnold isn't returning for the 2025 season
Despite it seeming obvious that Minnesota is going to move forward with J.J. McCarthy as the team's new starting quarterback, there are some who think Darnold still has a chance to remain with the Vikings for another season.
But if we want to estimate what Minnesota's decision will be on Darnold based on the team's lack of excitement in their post on X on Thursday, it seems safe to say that just about everyone inside the Vikings organization expects the veteran quarterback to be wearing a different uniform for the 2025 season.
Perhaps this is looking too much into something that, in all likelihood, says absolutely nothing about how Minnesota truly feels about Darnold. But there's no fun in assuming it means nothing.
This is the NFL offseason. This is the time of year when teams drop the most random clues about their future plans and it's up to fans and people who cover the teams to take these clues and assemble them like a 500-piece puzzle.
So, was the difference in tone in the Vikings' three posts on X on Thursday done intentionally? Minnesota would probably deny it, but that's not going to stop people from thinking it's the actual truth.