It appears Sam Darnold has his supporters, and perhaps the Minnesota Vikings will consider a franchise tag on the veteran quarterback. Making things even more interesting, second-year quarterback J.J. McCarthy’s weight is something to watch amid the Darnold conundrum.
Darnold played like a star for much of the season but crashed back to reality with a pair of poor performances in the Vikings’ two biggest games of the year. Darnold completed only 43 of 81 pass attempts in losses to the Lions (for the division title) and the Rams (in the playoffs).
That helped the Vikings turn their attention toward McCarthy. They planned to hands the reigns to McCarthy as a rookie before a knee injury interrupted the process.
Vikings QB J.J. McCarthy struggling with slow recovery
If McCarthy doesn’t show progress soon, it could impact what the Vikings do with Darnold, according to Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer.
“The Sam Darnold situation still merits watching in Minnesota,” Breer wrote. “And in a weird way, I could see J.J. McCarthy’s weight being a factor. He lost a bunch going through the knee surgeries of the past six months, and so returning to his fighting weight will play an element in the Minnesota Vikings’ confidence (and there is confidence there) that they can go forward with him.”
Furthermore, Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell spoke volumes about what he believes the team has in McCarthy, according to CBS Sports HQ via Sports Illustrated. O’Connell gave props to Darnold, but then pointed to McCarthy.
“I believe Sam has kind of played himself into being kind of the marquee free agent quarterback available,” O’Connell said. “I do believe that his teammates and coaches and our front office and myself, we would love to have Sam back in Minnesota. But at the same time we do feel very confident in J.J. McCarthy. He’s healthy. We drafted him 10th overall for a reason in what was, in my opinion, a historically good quarterback draft last year.
“Sam knows how I personally feel about him. I know he loves being a Minnesota Viking. Let’s see what these next few weeks look like and as we have dialogue all of it will be really two fold where we’re thinking about obviously having the best possible team in 2025 in Minnesota that we can, but I also care very much about Sam and I want what’s best for him.”
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