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Minnesota Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell interacts with QB Sam Darnold before an NFL game against the Indianapolis Colts.

It remains unclear whether Sam Darnold will be with the Minnesota Vikings next season, but even if he does return, it won’t be by way of the franchise tag.

Andrew Krammer of the Star Tribune reported on Friday, February 28, that the team has made the decision not to use the pricey one-year option to keep Darnold in purple and gold for 2025.

“The Vikings do not anticipate on tagging Sam Darnold at this point,” Krammer said. “They know now that tag is going to be over $40 million. That was the anticipation the entire time. At this point, they don’t anticipate to tag him. And from what I’ve heard, it’s because they do not intend to keep him on the tag, and trading him on the tag proves to be pretty difficult.”

Sam Darnold Doesn’t Make Sense in Minnesota on Franchise Tag After Faltering in Biggest Moments Last Season

GettyQuarterback Sam Darnold of the Minnesota Vikings.

The Vikings keeping Darnold on the tag might have been a viable strategy if he had played well in Week 18 and/or in the playoffs and Minnesota made a deeper run. However, Darnold shrunk in the biggest moments and under the brightest lights, pointing more toward Kevin O’Connell and his system elevating the quarterback than the other way around.

The optics of moving on from a signal-caller who threw for over 4,300 yards and 35 TDs would be more difficult to navigate if the Vikings proved true Super Bowl contenders last year with Darnold under center, but that didn’t end up the case.

If second-year quarterback J.J. McCarthy had suffered another setback after two surgeries to repair a knee injury he sustained in August 2024, then tagging Darnold to keep him for one more season may have been a more viable option. However, the team has been clear that McCarthy will be ready to go for offseason workouts and that he is the franchise QB of the future.

Considering all of that, and after spending the No. 10 pick on him in last year’s draft, the Vikings have to move ahead with a McCarthy-forward position group.

Vikings Would Essentially Give Sam Darnold No-Trade Clause by Using Franchise Tag With Intention to Deal Him

GettyQuarterback Sam Darnold of the Minnesota Vikings.
The better option for Minnesota involving the tag would be to use it to keep Darnold’s rights and then attempt to trade him so as to get a draft asset or two back in return rather than simply letting him walk in free agency for nothing.

However, Krammer explained that such moves are rare in the NFL and that the Vikings would be assuming substantial risk by treading that path.

“I don’t think there’s many teams that want to acquire [Darnold] on a one-year deal,” Krammer said. “It would have to be a situation where teams want to work out a long-term contract with him, and that takes time. That also takes willingness. And from what I’ve been told, Sam Darnold getting tagged with the intention of trading him would effectively give him a no-trade clause if he didn’t want to go wherever they were going to send him.”