Vikings fears made obvious with recent Sam Darnold decision

Following the season-ending knee injury suffered by rookie quarterback J.J. McCarthy last week, some have been wondering if Sam Darnold would suit up for the Minnesota Vikings in the team's preseason game against the Cleveland Browns on Saturday.

Well, according to KFXN-FM's Chris Hawkey, Darnold won't play against the Browns on Saturday. Instead, Nick Mullens will be Minnesota's No. 1 quarterback, and Jaren Hall and the newly signed Matt Corral will serve as the team's backups.

Darnold actually did appear in the Vikings' preseason opener against the Las Vegas Raiders last week. But with McCarthy now out for the entire 2024 campaign, Minnesota likely didn't want to risk Darnold getting injured in Cleveland, as he's projected to be the team's starting signal-caller when the regular season begins in a few weeks.

Is sitting Sam Darnold vs. the Cleveland Browns the correct choice for the Minnesota Vikings?

While the Vikings keeping Darnold on the sideline for Saturday's preseason contest is completely understandable after the recent McCarthy injury, is it the right decision?

Yes, Darnold is projected to be Minnesota's Week 1 starter for the regular season, but it's not like he's guaranteed to be successful as the team's starting passer. He was a top-five draft pick in 2019, but since then, he's failed to come even close to meeting the expectations he was given when he entered the league.

At the same time, Darnold did just get a bunch of work against the Browns earlier this week when Cleveland and Minnesota held a pair of joint practices. Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell likely believes the reps from those practices were just as valuable, if not more, than any snaps Darnold would get during Saturday's preseason game.

So, sure, Darnold could probably always use some additional reps to get a better feel for O'Connell's offense. But Minnesota clearly isn't willing to risk the health of its projected QB1 in a meaningless exhibition game after losing McCarthy to a significant knee injury last week.

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