The Minnesota Vikings enter the 2025 offseason with arguably more intrigue surrounding the quarterback position than any other NFL team.
Sam Darnold was supposed to be a one-year bridge to J.J. McCarthy, who would have had a chance to earn the starting job during the season. But then McCarthy hurt his knee, Minnesota sidelined him for his rookie campaign and Darnold went on to throw for more than 4,300 yards and 35 touchdowns.
As such, Darnold was poised to earn himself a massive contract come March. The chances were reasonable that Minnesota would decide to pay him considering Darnold is still just 27 years old and is a known quantity in head coach Kevin O'Connell's offense, while McCarthy is far less so.
Then the Vikings and their QB hit another twist -- back-to-back abysmal performances by Darnold in blowout losses. The first came in Week 18 to the Detroit Lions, costing Minnesota the No. 1 seed in the NFC and a bye week. The second came at the hands of the Los Angeles Rams, who embarrassed the Vikings in the Wild Card round of the playoffs and ended their 14-win campaign in embarrassing fashion.
That has left the Vikings with a massive question under center that has three possible answers: commit to Darnold, commit to McCarthy or delay the decision by keeping them both around through at least next year's mid-season trade deadline.
On Thursday, Jan. 16, head coach Kevin O'Connell spoke to the team's quarterback situation during his end-of-season press conference.
"How we build forward and how we put things together as we move into the future will be based upon what gives us the best chance to win," O'Connell told reporters on the decision between Darnold and McCarthy. "It's way too early to in that process to really identify exactly what that looks like."
Minnesota doesn't have that much time to decide which QB it likes more before Darnold hits free agency in mid-March. Should he become a free agent, Darnold is likely to be the most sought after signal-caller on the market. Meanwhile, McCarthy could be worth two or three draft picks to a QB-needy team via trade.
The middle-ground solution might be Minnesota either franchise-tagging Darnold or extending him on a multiyear contract, letting he and McCarthy battle it out for a portion of the summer, then putting one of them on the trade block as the season nears.
