The Elephant in the Room

[AGRforever]

My biggest concern is injury to the starting QB, whether it's JJM or Sam. Most QBs get injured sometime during the season and a NFL season is a marathon. We've experienced how an entire season can be derailed when you only have one franchise type QB who goes down with an injury. Having two very capable QBs sure improves your chances of getting hot down the stretch. But how much do you pay for such insurance? I think a lot of the decision will come down to Sam and what kind of contract he demands. He seems to really like being part of the Vikings but will he be willing to leave millions on the table to remain a Viking.

Enter Daniel Jones.

If I'm Sam I'm taking the biggest bag out there.  He's made $65M in his career but another $100+ is what he's starring down

[JimmyinSD]

If I'm Sam I'm taking the biggest bag out there.  He's made $65M in his career but another $100+ is what he's starring down

is he though?  Is somebody going to pay him 100 mill guaranteed?  I find it highly unlikely that he repeats this success with anther team so unless all that money is guaranteed... its a huge gamble for him to walk away from Minny when any other team will be able to cut and run when the guaranteed money is gone and if he does regress,  all his success will be for nothing and his career will likely be over, or at least his chance to be a starter for the better part of the next decade.

on the flip side,  the biggest upside to JJM is his rookie deal,  we've already lost 1 year of growth,  how many more years are you willing to shelf him, because if you pay Sam even lower tier starter money,  it will be damn hard to move off him unless he is really F'n grateful and give us the mother of all discounts.

[Kentis]

We could sign Sam & trade JJM for like 3 #1 picks, bird in hand thinking… 

[Riphawkins]

After the Vikings beat the Cards last week, the post game interview with Darnold was telling to me. He seemed a bit emotional and said, There’s no where I’d rather play.
Maybe that was the moment, maybe it was him thinking about next year and not being here, maybe he really wants to be here. Maybe he saw the Jones signing and knew the writing is on the wall. So, maybe he takes a team friendly deal and stays a bit longer, if offered. At least until JJ gets all the way back, he’d be the #1.
It’s a tough call, but I honestly think KOC can take a qb and make them better and will call a game to make them successful.
I’m honestly good either way this plays out.

[MaroonBells]

is he though?  Is somebody going to pay him 100 mill guaranteed?  I find it highly unlikely that he repeats this success with anther team so unless all that money is guaranteed... its a huge gamble for him to walk away from Minny when any other team will be able to cut and run when the guaranteed money is gone and if he does regress,  all his success will be for nothing and his career will likely be over, or at least his chance to be a starter for the better part of the next decade.

on the flip side,  the biggest upside to JJM is his rookie deal,  we've already lost 1 year of growth,  how many more years are you willing to shelf him, because if you pay Sam even lower tier starter money,  it will be damn hard to move off him unless he is really F'n grateful and give us the mother of all discounts.

It boils down to this: is Sam Darnold "fixed" or is his success just a reflection of our system and supporting cast? I think it's a combination of both. So whoever offers him big money would be wise to try to keep as much of that as possible. As a few of us have suggested, they could bring over Wes Phillips or Josh McNown to run his offense. They still won't have Justin, Jordan or TJ, but it would be a start.

[MAD GAINZ]

It's kinda funny looking at the NFL TD passing leaders right now...

You got Joe Burrow #1 (30) and Lamar #2 (29)... then you have the trio of Baker Mayfield (28), Sam Darnold (28), and Jared Goff (25).

Baker, Darnold, and Goff are all former top 3 picks that "busted" with their original teams and then ended up in good situations on different teams and turned it around.

[JimmyinSD]

It boils down to this: is Sam Darnold "fixed" or is his success just a reflection of our system and supporting cast? I think it's a combination of both. So whoever offers him big money would be wise to try to keep as much of that as possible. As a few of us have suggested, they could bring over Wes Phillips or Josh McNown to run his offense. They still won't have Justin, Jordan or TJ, but it would be a start.

I think its a combination of things,  but I dont think any one thing is the key,  you could try and duplicate our offense or qb room,  but like you said,  its imitation not duplication.  Lets face it,  he's having a career year,  but if you remove any of the pieces...do you still have a good Sam,  or do you have the Sam that many of us expected?  I think its very high risk to assume that 1 year in this system (with plays called by the HC)  can be duplicated elsewhere simply by taking 1 player and 1 coach.

IMO his highest value should come from the Vikings,  but even then,  I would not back up the brinks truck without a lot of incentives and stipulations.

[MAD GAINZ]

It boils down to this: is Sam Darnold "fixed" or is his success just a reflection of our system and supporting cast? I think it's a combination of both. So whoever offers him big money would be wise to try to keep as much of that as possible. As a few of us have suggested, they could bring over Wes Phillips or Josh McNown to run his offense. They still won't have Justin, Jordan or TJ, but it would be a start.

I don't think he's "fixed" per se.  I think our supporting cast, coaching, and play calling have helped hide his flaws.  We've seen them pop up throughout the season and they are still there.

That said, I do think he's playing with more confidence than he ever has in his career.  Credit goes to the coaching and culture KOC has established here and Darnold for embracing it and taking advantage of this opportunity.

[MaroonBells]

I don't think he's "fixed" per se.  I think our supporting cast, coaching, and play calling have helped hide his flaws.  We've seen them pop up throughout the season and they are still there.

That said, I do think he's playing with more confidence than he ever has in his career.  Credit goes to the coaching and culture KOC has established here and Darnold for embracing it and taking advantage of this opportunity.

I disagree...to a degree. Is he going to replicate what he's doing for us for any team that signs him? Obviously not. But I think even in a different offense with lesser weapons, he'll be a better QB than he was for Carolina and New York. I think KOC and McNown have coached a few things out of him...and into him.

[medaille]

I think the real question I have is can $40M/year Darnold lead a vikings team without Flores to a SB? So many of our wins this year is due to our defense being so good. Like if we're rolling with a middle of the road defense with a more mortal 3-4 DC and the same pieces, where does that lead us?

I think we can resign Darnold and a lot of our defense and we'll have a window for a bit. I'm not that worried about money in the short term.

If we saw the Sam Darnold of this past game much more consistently throughout the season, where the offense is ripping through teams, I would feel a lot more confident that our offense under Darnold could carry the team, but we're pretty stacked on offense and we haven't been dominating teams like we'll probably need to going forward.

That said, I imagine we're going to do what we did with Kirk. We're going to assess his worth, give him a contract offer that reflects his worth to us and let him make a choice between us and the market, and what we'll pay will be less commitment than other more desperate teams. I kind of imagine that we'll offer something like 2 years $80M guaranteed and some other team will offer him 3-4 years $100M guaranteed and we'll see where that leaves things.