Top Landing Spots for Sam Darnold in NFL Free Agency After Vikings Elimination – Bleacher Report
The clock finally struck midnight on CinderDarnold.After having far and away the best season of his NFL career, Sam Darnold flopped in the Minnesota Vikings’ two biggest games of the season—the regular-season finale against the Detroit Lions and a Wild Card Round blowout at the hands of the Los Angeles Rams.While Darnold’s season ended on a sour note, the 27-year-old still threw for a career-high 4,319 yards and 35 touchdowns while leading Minnesota to the second-most regular-season wins in franchise history. Given how many NFL teams have questions at quarterback, multiple suitors figure to be willing to look past the last two starts to the 16 that preceded it.Darnold’s impending free agency will be one of the offseason’s biggest storylines—provided the Vikings let things get that far. But Minnesota isn’t the only club that will potentially be in on the Sam Darnold Sweepstakes in 2025.”Sam Darnold Sweepstakes.” There are three words no one expected to be reading (or typing) back in August.After Monday night’s debacle, the idea of Darnold returning to Minnesota may inspire the hurling of expletives, vegetables and maybe a brick or two.Yes, Darnold’s last two outings were awful. But prior to that, he had easily the best season of his NFL career. Head coach Kevin O’Connell raved about him all season long, too.”Just to see how he’s ultimately been able to maximize everything about his opportunity, our football team loves him for it,” O’Connell told reporters. “I’ve had an absolute blast coaching him.”Yes, the Vikings spent a first-round pick on Michigan’s J.J. McCarthy in 2024. McCarthy has also never thrown an NFL pass that counted and is coming off a meniscus tear. And before anyone mentions Daniel Jones as a potential bridge starter in 2025, bear in mind the wisdom of having “Daniel Jones” and “starter” in the same sentence.Given how the last two games played out, Darnold signing a long-term extension north of $45 million per season would probably get Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah drug-tested. But Darnold is an ideal candidate for the non-exclusive franchise tag.That would give Minnesota a number of options at a reasonable salary. Tag-and-trade. Refuse to match another offer and get two first-rounders in return. Or keep Darnold for one more year while making sure McCarthy is ready to take the reins in 2026.Vikings fans may not want to hear this right now. But Darnold is likely going to be tagged.It’s hardly a secret that the Las Vegas Raiders need a quarterback. And a head coach. And an offensive line. And just about everything except a tight end and edge-rusher.Actually, they need an edge-rusher opposite Maxx Crosby, too.There had been some speculation that the Raiders could take an offseason run at J.J. McCarthy. But the odds of Minnesota entertaining that idea just plummeted, and as ESPN’s Adam Schefter said on a recent radio appearance, the cost for McCarthy would be steep.”Now (the Vikings) may say (they) don’t and that’s the end of it, but do I think teams will explore that option,” Schefter said. “Absolutely, 100 percent. Because J.J. McCarthy would’ve been a top, if not the top, quarterback prospect in this draft. If the Vikings decide that they wanted to trade him, which I don’t know that they will, I believe they would get back everything they put into him and then some. It would be a [first-round pick] and then some.”The Raiders could also explore a trade up in April’s draft from the No. 6 spot with a team like the Patriots, who don’t need a quarterback. But that will also require the expenditure of more draft capital—and again, quarterback is far from the Raiders’ only issue.Among quarterbacks who won’t cost the Raiders anything more than cash, Darnold is far and away the best option who might be available. It would admittedly be a risky play. But it’s also the only one where veteran quarterbacks are concerned that doesn’t say to Raiders fans, “Buckle up. 2025 is going to be bumpy.”With over $85 million in cap space, per Over the Cap, the Raiders can afford to roll the dice.The Pittsburgh Steelers didn’t have any more fun on Wild Card Weekend than the Vikings. They were rolled by the rival Baltimore Ravens for their fifth straight loss to end the season.That has become a theme with the Steelers as of late. They still have yet to finish with a losing record under head coach Mike Tomlin, but their last postseason victory came in 2016, Since then, Pittsburgh has lost six straight playoff games.There was some question about Tomlin’s future in the Steel City in the immediate aftermath of the loss, but that appears to be settled. What isn’t is the Steelers’ situation at quarterback, as their bargain-basement duo of Justin Fields and Russell Wilson are both free agents.While speaking to reporters after the loss, Tomlin wasn’t interested in talking about the Steelers’ future under center.”I’m not ready to take a big-picture approach,” Tomlin said. “You know, I’m really assessing what happened today, and I certainly appreciate the efforts tonight, but I can say that largely for the entire season. They’re two quality people, three quality people at the quarterback position, and really appreciate what they poured into this.”Fields is ostensibly out, as Pittsburgh could have gone back to him at some point and didn’t. The Steelers also aren’t getting an impact rookie under center without trading way up, which would be unprecedented for them.This boils down to a fairly simple equation. Do the Steelers believe they are close enough to contend for a Super Bowl that the difference in talent between Darnold and Wilson is worth the difference in salary? Could Darnold be the proverbial missing piece?The Steelers have the cap space to make a run at Darnold. Tomlin will likely enter 2025 on a seat much warmer than he’s accustomed to.If Pittsburgh believes the 14-win Darnold wasn’t a fluke, kicking the tires would make sense.OK, we’re getting into the weeds now. Minnesota, Pittsburgh and Las Vegas are the three most likely landing spots for Darnold by a fair margin.We might as well deal with the elephant in the room where the New Orleans Saints and Darnold are concerned. The Saints enter the offseason more than $60 million over the cap. They also have Derek Carr (who, in a parallel dimension, is Sam Darnold’s older brother) under contract for two more years, with a cap hit north of $51 million in 2025.While addressing the media recently, Saints general manager Mickey Loomis expressed confidence in Carr.”I have a high level of confidence in Derek. Listen, he did some really good things here, has done some really good things here,” Loomis said. “When you don’t have your top two receivers and you don’t have that special weapon in Taysom Hill and we don’t have the middle portion of our offensive line and we have a rookie left tackle, there are some tough circumstances for a quarterback. So, I think he’s done a lot of good things.”Of course, Loomis also said that he believes the 5-12 Saints can turn things around quickly.”I’m positive. I’m glass half-full at all times. Even in a 5-12 season, I see a lot of things that were positive that we can build on,” Loomis said. “So, I’m on the side of, man, this thing can go the other direction pretty quickly.”That’s the thing. Loomis and the Saints are apparently hell-bent on just blowing up a bad team, taking their lumps for a year or two, and then rebuilding. Loomis has twisted the cap into a pretzel so many times that it has no meaning anymore.And anyone with functioning eyes knows that the only “turnaround” the Saints are making with Carr is from bad to worse.This may inspire flying tomatoes from Giants fans who are still having Daniel Jones flashbacks. But let’s all take a deep breath and ponder a few things.The first is this: Darnold ain’t Jones. Less than a month ago, he was one of the biggest redemption stories of 2024. He finished the 2024 season fifth in passing yards, fifth in touchdown passes and sixth in passer rating.Yes, the season ended with a thud. But that’s not all on Darnold. And when was the last time a Giants quarterback posted those kinds of numbers?It’s OK. I can’t remember, either.The Giants are a mess with needs galore on both sides of the ball. Quarterback is most assuredly among them. But the team’s Week 17 win over Indianapolis dropped the G-Men to third in the 2025 draft. With the Tennessee Titans and Cleveland Browns just as hard up under center, New York could be looking at the third-best option in a less-than-stellar class at the position.Bleacher Report’s most recent mock draft has the Giants selecting Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter third overall. Hunter and Malik Nabers could be a terrifying duo at wideout—if there’s someone there with a prayer of getting them the ball.With over $40 million in cap space, the Giants have the cabbage to take a run at Darnold. Head coach Brian Daboll and general manager Joe Schoen also need more than a one-year band-aid at quarterback, as another bad season will probably be their last.The hardest sell here may be convincing Darnold to play 8-9 home games in MetLife Stadium again.Not putting the Jets here. Just can’t. It would be too weird.This is the least likely landing spot listed here—and potentially the best-case scenario for Darnold.It’s unlikely because the San Francisco 49ers have given no indication that their long-term plans don’t include Brock Purdy under center. Head coach Kyle Shanahan didn’t mince words when discussing how he envisions the team’s future at quarterback.”I plan on being with Brock here the whole time I’m here,” Shanahan told reporters. “Brock’s been a stud. He’s a guy I’ve got a lot of confidence in just as a human, but it starts with what he’s done on the field these last two and a half years. We’re capable of winning the Super Bowl with him. He just almost did, and I know he can get the Niners a Super Bowl in the future.”However, there are a few reasons why Purdy’s future in San Francisco might not be so cut-and-dried. With three years of service, Purdy is eligible for an extension. He probably isn’t going to ask for Joe Burrow cheese, but he’s likely going to want more than the $45 million per year that Kirk Cousins got last year from Atlanta—perhaps significantly more.Some of the shine came off Purdy in 2024 as well. Sure, injuries played a part, but Darnold outplayed Purdy last year in just about every statistical category. Darnold will want a fat raise, but his annual salary will be more in the Baker Mayfield range than Kyler Murray.Darnold knows the system in San Francisco from his short stint there. Trade offers from QB-needy teams for Purdy would be robust. And it’s not like we haven’t seen the Niners make an aggressive move at quarterback before.If the Niners are going to keep their Super Bowl window open as contracts like Purdy’s come due, they’re going to have to be creative.This would certainly be that—or another word that starts with “cr.”
