With Seattle Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold facing the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday, it's no shock that some new details about his departure from the purple and gold earlier this year have been revealed.
On Sunday, NFL Media's Tom Pelissero shared that Darnold actually received similar contract offers from both the Seahawks and Vikings this past offseason, but he ended up heading to Seattle for a reason that shouldn't surprise any Minnesota fans.
"The Vikings did not simply let Sam Darnold walk. My understanding is they actually made a pretty similar offer to Sam Darnold to the one that he ultimately accepted, three years, $100.5 million, with the Seahawks.
Now, it was only a one-year commitment, as Seattle's offer was [as well], on paper. Part of the reason the Vikings weren't willing to go further than that had less to do with the way Sam Darnold played in their final two games last year than the fact that they believed in their first-round pick from a year ago, J.J. McCarthy."
Reason why Sam Darnold picked the Seattle Seahawks over the Minnesota Vikings isn't shocking
Based on Pelissero's report, Darnold basically went to the team that wasn't going to have the threat of a first-round pick breathing down his neck every week of the season, and no one should blame him.
Just like pretty much every quarterback in the NFL, he wanted to go somewhere where he felt like he was going to unquestionably be the No. 1 guy on the depth chart. The Seahawks were able to offer him that, and Minnesota wasn't, so he headed to the Pacific Northwest.
Judging how the 2025 season has gone for both the Vikings and Darnold, it's safe to say he made the right decision.
With the former Minnesota quarterback leading the way, Seattle has a great shot to end the regular season as the No. 1 seed in the NFC, while the Vikings have spent the 2025 campaign discovering that J.J. McCarthy might actually not be the right guy to build their franchise around.
With Minnesota investing a first-round pick on McCarthy, they probably would've always made the same offer to Darnold, but it's fair to assume that plenty of current members of the Vikings are kicking themselves for not making a better effort to keep the veteran signal-caller around for at least one more year.