Free agency is going to be huge for the Minnesota Vikings. They are primed to be a major player with $58 million in salary cap space, but a major decision to make at the quarterback position.
Sam Darnold is arguably the biggest factor in all of free agency. If the Vikings keep him in the building, teams will start calling about J.J. McCarthy and if he's not available, teams will get more desperate at quarterback.
There have been discussions about the Vikings using the franchise tag on Darnold to either keep him or trade him. However, there is one other player that makes sense when it comes to the franchise tag.
Vikings could franchise tag Byron Murphy
The Vikings don't have a long history with the franchise tag, but they have used it before. However, all five of those instances were before general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah was hired.
- 2020: S Anthony Harris
- 2011: LB Chad Greenway
- 2003: TE/FB Jim Kleinsasser
- 1997: LG Randall McDaniel
- 1994: DT Henry Thomas
Using it on Darnold isn't very likely, as it will both cripple how the Vikings can improve their roster and likely gives him more money on the franchise tag than what he would get on a multi-year deal. Plus, the idea of the tag and trade just doesn't exist like many think it does.
There is one player who could be given the franchise tag by the Vikings: cornerback Byron Murphy Jr.
Placing the franchise tag on Murphy would be an interesting move for the Vikings. If they were to do that, it would likely cost them $20,357,000 per Over The Cap's franchise tag projections. It might feel like a lot for Murphy who is set to enter his age 27 season, but it's not crazy. Murphy could get that on the open market, especially with the top of the market now being $24 million per season.
Franchise tagging Murphy would essentially guarantee him staying in Minnesota for one more year, especially since ESPN's Jeremy Fowler reported on Wednesday that the prevailing thought is the Vikings will end up losing Murphy to free agency.
Several free agents -- Byron Murphy II, Camryn Bynum, Cam Robinson, Aaron Jones -- could get cushy deals elsewhere, but GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah has shown adaptability in adding new talent. (A prime example is last season's pass-rush duo of Jonathan Greenard and Andrew Van Ginkel.) In the secondary, the sense here is Murphy walks but Bynum could stay under a new deal.
If the prevailing thought is the Vikings will lose Murphy but they want to keep him, the best way to do that is to give him the franchise tag and hope to work out a long-term deal to keep him purple and gold for a long time.
The one caveat here is it somewhat goes against the player-friendly approach the Vikings have used during Adofo-Mensah's tenure as general manager. It's also not an unprecedented move either, as fixing the secondary is arguably the number one priority of the Vikings this offseason.
