The Tag and Trade

[hogjowlsjohnny]

Yes it would. Not nearly as much as some think though. Look, you know I love playing devil's advocate, sometimes offering a position I don't necessarily support just to play around with scenarios. 

Think about it this way. The Vikings have $63M in cap space. Take $41M out and you have $22M left. And that's before releasing or restructuring anyone. For the sake of comparison, the Vikings added their best free agent class in history last year and started with $16.9M in cap space.

Releasing Asamoah, Bradbury, and Ingram adds $10M. So $32M total now. Restructure candidates include Brian O'Neill, TJ Hockenson and Jonathan Greenard. It's been said that there is up to $28M in potential savings there. It's doubtful we restructure all of it, so let's just say $20M. So, the Vikings, if they wanted to, could pay Darnold his tag hit AND have nearly three times the cap space they had entering free agency last year.

Let's just say, devils advocate aside, I'm glad you aren't the GM. 
Your plan would likely relegate the Vikings to perpetual mediocracy. Would you really be content to kick the can down the road further for Darnold? Vikings fans have lived the world of roster deficits because of over spending on a flawed QB for quite awhile.
Their plan is to repair the roster deficits by having a QB on a rookie contract. They would be fools not to. It may or may not work, but is clearly the path to building a team capable of hoisting a Lombardi.
But then I know you are just playing devils advocate!

[JustInTime]

[StickierBuns]

Yes it would. Not nearly as much as some think though. Look, you know I love playing devil's advocate, sometimes offering a position I don't necessarily support just to play around with scenarios. 

Think about it this way. The Vikings have $63M in cap space. Take $41M out and you have $22M left. And that's before releasing or restructuring anyone. For the sake of comparison, the Vikings added their best free agent class in history last year and started with $16.9M in cap space.

Releasing Asamoah, Bradbury, and Ingram adds $10M. So $32M total now. Restructure candidates include Brian O'Neill, TJ Hockenson and Jonathan Greenard. It's been said that there is up to $28M in potential savings there. It's doubtful we restructure all of it, so let's just say $20M. So, the Vikings, if they wanted to, could pay Darnold his tag hit AND have nearly three times the cap space they had entering free agency last year.

Oh boy. All to keep Darnold? The 'Devil' needs to put down the Uncle Sammy Kool Aid.

[purplefaithful]

Be a brass balls move to tag Darnold today...

I dont know how I'd feels about it...I would hypothesize they are unsure still as to what they have in the rookie

[MaroonBells]

Be a brass balls move to tag Darnold today...

I dont know how I'd feels about it...I would hypothesize they are unsure still as to what they have in the rookie

The tagging would not be about keeping Darnold and would say nothing about their opinion of McCarthy. It would be about getting something for Darnold.

[ArizonaViking]

Let's say the Vikings do work out a deal with Darnold...the Vikings are still in a position to trade him if there's a "No trade clause".

[MaroonBells]

Let's say the Vikings do work out a deal with Darnold...the Vikings are still in a position to trade him if there's a "No trade clause".

I think the no trade clause just means the QB has to agree to the trade.

[pattersaur]

At this point my guess is he's gonna sign somewhere else about one minute into free agency. Let's hope it's for lots of money at least. The last two games cost the Vikings dearly. We'll see how much $$$ they cost Sam.