After a ton of discussion about what the Minnesota Vikings would do with quarterback Sam Darnold and the franchise tag, a decision has finally been made. According to multiple reports, Darnold will not be getting the franchise tag from the Vikings.

Vikings will not franchise tag Sam Darnold

It was an inevitable decision for the Vikings to make, as they had to decide between Darnold and J.J. McCarthy. They lived up to their word with Darnold and let him hit the market.

During Super Bowl week, head coach Kevin O’Connell laid the groundwork for Darnold potentially hitting the market.

“There was an organizational plan in place where we wanted to have a guy that we thought we could win football games with while still attempting to draft our quarterback of the future.

“To be sitting here today, Sam Darnold, 14 wins later, his best season of his career by far. He deserves all the credit for that. We had belief in him and he earned it with his teammates on a daily basis. But then also to have J.J. McCarthy now healthy, gonna have a full offseason, I think it’s going to be really exciting. We’ll see how the free agency process works out for Sam.”

What’s interesting about how NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport framed the news is that both sides are still trying to work out a deal. The Pittsburgh Steelers are one of the teams that will be interested in Darnold, even though they could re-sign one of Russell Wilson or Justin Fields.

What kind of contract Darnold will get continues to be up in the air. Will he get upward of $40 or $50 million per season in free agency? Is it going to be closer to Baker Mayfield’s three-year, $100 million contract that he signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last year? With multiple suitors, it could be much closer to the former.

Strap in, the next week is going to be wild.