Is Franchise Tag an option for Darnold?

[pattersaur]

If Sam wins the Super Bowl this year the team will be ashamed to even offer the peanuts being bandied about here! His price is going up by the week. My confidence in the Vikings is growing by the week as well. This team right now can go all the way! And if that happens, it's the Sam Show for the foreseeable future.

[Montana Tom]

Could anybody here imagine this conversation even happening last March? Or even July before training camp? Or even early September?

I did get a confirmation independently that we could franchise tag Darnold, and yes the number quoted earlier was correct at $41mm+

[purplefaithful]

Everyones got an opinion...

https://www.espn.com/video/clip/_/id/42875133

[dadevike]

From Breer at MMQB SI.com:

Minnesota Vikings
"Sam Darnold has given the Minnesota Vikings a champagne problem. And Kevin O’Connell really summed up the feelings of the organization in his postgame address to his players.

“This guy’s been on one for a few weeks, and he just keeps getting better and better and better and better,” O’Connell said. “And if people don’t understand now? Then, I don’t know what to tell you.”

Sunday was billed as Kirk Cousins’s return to the Twin Cities. And Darnold didn’t just double up his predecessor in points scored (42–21). He did the same in passer rating (157.9-70.1) and left little doubt on whether the Vikings made the right call back in March.

Darnold finished 22-of-28 for 347 yards and five touchdowns without throwing a pick. The Vikings scored the game’s final 21 points. Justin Jefferson hadn’t scored since Oct. 20, and Darnold got him two. Jordan Addison scored twice, too, with the first coming on the first big third down of the second half. Darnold’s passer rating was a franchise record, and also his 11th of the season in triple-digits, another Vikings best (with four games left).

So look, again, at the point O’Connell made. … If people don’t understand now …

If I’m translating that, it means roughly this: Stop indicting him for being a draft bust, and start to realize that he was worthy of his draft position after all. It makes sense, too. Think about it. Darnold entered Week 14 in the top 10 in the NFL in passing yards, touchdown passes and passer rating, and then had the 347-yard, five-touchdown game. His team is 11–2. He plays in the NFL’s toughest division.

He's 27 now and was taken with the No. 3 pick in 2018, and he’s playing like it. As for the team that drafted him, the New York Jets have fired two coaches and two general managers since drafting Darnold, and have the longest playoff drought (14 years) in the four major U.S. men’s pro sports leagues.

Who was the problem again? You think it was Darnold?

Of course, the result of this, for the Vikings, is a champagne problem. At some point in the offseason, J.J. McCarthy, whom Minnesota took with the 10th pick in April, will be cleared. The staff loved his work before he tore his meniscus in August. So the next domino for the franchise, after the season ends, will be a decision on whether to try to re-sign Darnold or just turn to McCarthy, who’s on an affordable rookie contract.

One factor in that decision will be Darnold’s price point. To work to ascertain that, I asked a few execs Sunday night where they saw Darnold’s market. One guessed he’d command a three-year, $110 million contract, with more than $40 million guaranteed. Another said he thought the Vikings should consider franchise tagging him, even though the price on that projects to top $41 million, and that he’d probably get $40 million per year if he hit the open market.

So it’s a healthy inflation bump off what Baker Mayfield got coming off his own revival season in Tampa—a three-year, $90 million deal last March. And it’d be justified, too, as a recognition of the coming of age of a guy who always had the talent to make it.

Because, at this point, if you throw your preconceived notions out, that’s who Darnold is." - Albert Breer, SI.com

---

Yeah, the Vikings aren't trading JJ McCarthy, lol. Sigh, this is going to be a nutty offseason with some of the fanbase.

Every team needs a franchise QB. We gave Cousins every opportunity to show us he was a franchise QB and, while he was often good, he was getting paid like he was great, and he was not that. So the Vikings let an expensive Cousins walk and set out to look for a young QB who could become our franchise QB. We drafted JJM. We also signed Darnold to be the bridge between Cousins and JJM. 

Then Darnold, the bridge QB, started playing like a franchise QB. And he is still only 27. 

So now we have a guy who is playing like a franchise QB and a guy we drafted who we hope will be a franchise QB. 

We still cannot be 100% certain that Darnold really is the guy we are seeing week in and week out. But the evidence is there for us to see with our own eyes. We have no evidence that JJM is a franchise QB. All we have for JJM is our hopes and dreams that he will do what Sam is actually doing. And we need to keep in mind that most guys drafted to be franchise QBs fail. See Sam Darnold prior to 2024. See Daniel Jones. 

We went looking for a franchise QB. We found one. But not the one we were expecting. So do we let him go to another team to be their franchise QB? And do we give him away for nothing? Seems crazy to me.

[Norse]

There is going to be a lot of opinions on what we should do and who we should go with.
The bottom line it’s going to be up to the Vikings organization and what they want to do.
They see these guys almost every day. One question is…I wonder how impressed they are with Jones so far?
Kind of in a nice position compared to last year. 11-2 is more than we was expecting.

[purplefaithful]

There is going to be a lot of opinions on what we should do and who we should go with.
The bottom line it’s going to be up to the Vikings organization and what they want to do.
They see these guys almost every day. One question is…I wonder how impressed they are with Jones so far?
Kind of in a nice position compared to last year. 11-2  is more than we was expecting.

Yah,

Dimes presence certainly makes for more potential scenarios. 

Having Ponder was a problem to solve. 

Having JJM + Darnold + Dimes isn't a problem. I suspect a lot of teams would sign up with having to sort through that.

[Mattyman]

These are the options that I hear being kicked around waaaaay too early:

Do you attempt to extend Darnold for another one or two years...or four years? No. Stick to the plan.\


Do you let him walk and get his money bag elsewhere? Yes /

Do you let him walk and hand over the keys to the JJM next year? JJM or Jones.

Do you let him walk and start the Daniel Jones Redemption Tour to get JJM more time? Depends how JJM heals and plays. Jones provides an option that is better than what Darnold was in March 2024.


Does Daniel Jones fit in this equation anywhere? Yes. IMO it's why Jones chose KOC and the Vikings. He wants to be here. Also makes Darnold expendable.

KOC and Kwesi have demonstrated they are competent, I trust them more than any Coach GM tandem I've followed as a Viking fan.

Are they perfect, no! But they are improving. So I'm inclined to trust them and their judgement.

[Montana Tom]

These are the options that I hear being kicked around waaaaay too early:

Do you attempt to extend Darnold for another one or two years...or four years? No. Stick to the plan.\


Do you let him walk and get his money bag elsewhere? Yes /

Do you let him walk and hand over the keys to the JJM next year? JJM or Jones.

Do you let him walk and start the Daniel Jones Redemption Tour to get JJM more time? Depends how JJM heals and plays. Jones provides an option that is better than what Darnold was in March 2024.


Does Daniel Jones fit in this equation anywhere? Yes. IMO it's why Jones chose KOC and the Vikings. He wants to be here. Also makes Darnold expendable.

KOC and Kwesi have demonstrated  they are competent, I trust them more than any Coach GM tandem I've followed as a Viking fan.

Are they perfect, no! But they are improving. So I'm inclined to trust them and their judgement.

Matty, two weeks ago I would have agreed with this.  But after this demonstration vs. Cousins and ATL, I'm now hesitant.   Darnold shook that rough patch in the middle of the schedule.  I think we can all prognosticate til the cows come home, but this storyline changes by the week.  For instance, what happens if we go 0-5 the rest of the way?   What happens if we go 5-0 or 4-1 the rest of the way and deep into the playoffs?  Or even make it to the big game?  If the latter were to happen and we were riding on Darnold's tailcoats the way there, I don't see them letting him just walk...plus, he knows that with this supporting cast and with this coaching staff, it is the best place for him to be.

For example...you saw how at the end of Sunday's game how Darnold was actually smiling and showed emotion?  He's been pretty stone-faced all season, even as the wins were stacking up.  I think his post-game interview last week after beating the Cardinals was telling, with his commenting something to the effect of "there's no place I'd rather be".

Honestly, I think we have to wait until the rest of the season to make an intelligent prediction.  I just think this has to play out a bit more.

[purplefaithful]

I agree Montana, this has to play itself out...Things may become crystal clear by Feb.

As a fan since 1975, I'm just enjoying the ride in 24.

[supafreak84]

Could anybody here imagine this conversation even happening last March?  Or even July before training camp?  Or even early September?

I did get a confirmation independently that we could franchise tag Darnold, and yes the number quoted earlier was correct at $41mm+

For an organization that's spent the last few offseasons cutting cap for this offseason and building the team around a rookie QB contract, eating 41 million of it to bring back Darnold on a one year deal would be a tough pill to swallow.