The Minnesota Vikings declined to use the franchise tag on quarterback Sam Darnold likely because they couldn’t find a team to strike a trade with in a tag-and-trade scenario.

Now that the franchise tag window has passed, there is a lot of discussion about what the future holds at quarterback for the Vikings. Will they bring Darnold back?

Vikings looking to to bring back Sam Darnold

It’s been no secret that the Vikings would love to bring back Darnold for the 2025 season. Are they willing to bring him back on a longer-term contract? I’m sure we will find out.

Fox Sports’ Jordan Schultz reported that the Vikings and Darnold’s camp are working to bring him back on a “short term deal” with one of the main elements being that the franchise tag was too rich.

This aligns with everything we’ve been hearing when it comes to Darnold. The Vikings not placing the tag on him signals that they have a number they want to keep him at and they won’t go higher than that. By also not placing the franchise tag on him, it keeps their flexibility for the 2025 free agency cycle to add a lot of talented players without having that $40 million cap charge.

Let’s also address the elephant in the room. Is this a good move? Well, it depends on how you look at it.

The Vikings do have J.J. McCarthy waiting in the wings, but he is also coming off of a serious knee injury that ended his season in the first preseason game. They want to have a competition for the job, which is one of the reasons why Daniel Jones’ name has been brought up multiple times. Are they 100% ready to hand over the keys to McCarthy on a full-time basis?

Even if the answer is no, it’s not a certainty that it’s damning against McCarthy. Young quarterbacks take time to develop and having him sit longer isn’t a bad thing. Plus, Darnold had a Pro Bowl season that garnered him Most Valuable Player consideration. It’s hard to move on from a quarterback that young with that kind of success.

In fact, it would be just the second time in history that a team moved on from a quarterback the year after throwing 30+ touchdown passes. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers moved on from Jameis Winston after his infamous 30 touchdown, 30 interception season in 2019.

This also could be posturing from the Vikings, as they want to be seen in a certain light when it comes to retaining players. They made Kirk Cousins a real offer last year before he signed a four-year, $180 million contract with the Atlanta Falcons.

What could they offer Darnold? My best guess is they want it to be somewhere around the $30 million mark or slightly less with the flexibility of spreading it out over multiple years.

Buckle up Vikings fans, it’s set to be a wild week.