Jeremy Fowler of ESPN continues to hear that the Vikings “won’t mortgage their future” to retain QB Sam Darnold this offseason.
<img data-recalc-dims="1" decoding="async" width="300" height="200" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-580656" src="https://i0.wp.com/nfltraderumors.co/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/USATSI_25189247_168383805_lowres.jpg?resize=300%2C200&ssl=1" alt=""According to Fowler, there isn’t a lot of “momentum coming out of the combine that the Vikings will franchise tag Darnold.”
Even so, Fowler expects Darnold to have a “multiple” suitors this offseason wit the Giants, Raiders, Titans and possibly the Steelers as teams to watch.
Darnold is still considered to be the best available quarterback about to hit the open market this offseason, but there are only so many starting jobs available for quarterbacks, so the market could end up shaking out pretty quickly.
The franchise tag would cost the Vikings $40,242,000 fully guaranteed for the 2025 season and it sounds like they’re more likely to try to re-sign Daniel Jones and pair him with J.J. McCarthy.
Darnold, 27, is a former first-round pick of the Jets back in 2018. He was in the final year of a four-year, $30.370 million rookie contract when he was traded to the Panthers.
Carolina exercised Darnold’s fifth-year option for 2022 after acquiring him from New York. He made a base salary of $18.858 million in 2022 under the option.
Darnold was an unrestricted free agent for the first time in his career when he signed a one-year, $4.5 million deal with the 49ers in 2023. He joined the Vikings this past offseason on another one-year deal.
In 2024, Darnold appeared in all 17 games for the Vikings and completed 66.2 percent of his pass attempts for 4,319 yards, 35 touchdowns, and 12 interceptions. He added 67 carries for 212 yards and a touchdown.
We have him included in our Top 100 – 2025 Free Agents list.
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