For Sam Darnold, the 2024 season with the Minnesota Vikings will likely go down as one of the most enjoyable years of his life since entering the NFL in 2018. It also seems like it will go down as Darnold's only season as a member of the Vikings.
After only signing a one-year deal with Minnesota last offseason, he's currently scheduled to hit free agency, and he will easily be the best available quarterback on the market. The Vikings have stated that they would love to have Darnold back, but reports have also revealed that the team isn't about to break the bank to re-sign him this year either.
More likely than not, he'll be pursued by multiple teams with lucrative contract offers this offseason, and for the first, and potentially only time in his NFL career, he'll get to sign a deal that pays him like he's one of the top 10 quarterbacks in the league.
Insider believes the Las Vegas Raiders would be a good fit for Minnesota Vikings QB Sam Darnold
During Monday's episode of "The MMQB NFL Podcast", Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer was asked to give his thoughts on where Darnold might end up this year. Breer responded with a quick answer, and his choice wasn't Minnesota.
"Raiders.
I think he's a good fit for the Chip Kelly offense if you're talking about trying to get the most out of him. What Kevin O'Connell did really well, and you give the other guys their credit too, Wes Phillips, Josh McCown, [and] Grant Udinski were all part of it, they got him playing fast.
That was the whole thing. Get him playing fast and I think that's what Chip's offense does for a quarterback. Chip's offense is simple and it puts the weight of the complexity on the coaches and formationing and tempo and all that different stuff.
And so, I think Sam would be a really good fit because I think that offense would get him playing fast."
This isn't the first time Darnold has been linked to Las Vegas this offseason. Multiple online publications and oddsmakers believe the Vikings quarterback has a solid chance to step on the field for the 2025 campaign in a Raiders uniform.
In addition to Chip Kelly being the new Las Vegas offensive coordinator, the Raiders also have a new head coach this year in Pete Carroll. At 73-years-old, Carroll likely isn't going to be much different from his time as the Seattle Seahawks head coach from 2010 to 2023. He expects a lot out of his players, but he also wants them to have fun, and that seems like a good environment for Darnold to enter.
Helping Las Vegas's chances is also the fact that they are currently projected to have almost $100 million in cap space when free agency begins in the middle of March. The Raiders are one of the few teams that could easily give Darnold the kind of lucrative contract he's probably looking to sign this year.
So, barring any crazy changes, Darnold will likely end up as a one-hit wonder with Minnesota. Moving forward, the question will now just be which team will he play for next?