The Minnesota Vikings have gone from having a quarterback that was making upwards of $30 million last year to a rookie quarterback on a rookie deal. Obviously, the production drop off from Kirk Cousins to J.J. McCarthy is going to be a bit of a tough drop to deal with, but the Vikings front office can lessen this load by using all that additional cap space to surround their rookie with talent.
That's exactly what they have opted to do. Just recently, they announced that they extended offensive tackle Christian Darrisaw on a four-year deal worth up to $113 million in new money, including $77 million guaranteed.
This extension should be just the beginning of the Vikings loading their roster while McCarthy is on his rookie contract, giving themselves the best chance to compete while their quarterback is making less than quarterback money.
The time for the Vikings to win is right now. They have the best receiver in football, a great number two option in Jordan Addison, a solid tight end and a new running back in Aaron Jones that could revitalize the running game. They're continuing to bolster up their offensive line to support their rookie quarterback too.
But for now, the starter is still Sam Darnold. It likely won't be that way for long though. The team is doing everything in their power to build a perfect offense for McCarthy to slide into. There is nothing better than letting your young quarterback slide into a role as a system QB. Absolutely nothing wrong with that.
While he's on the rookie deal, the Vikings need to take advantage of the additional money they have. Quarterbacks are beginning to be paid more and more money as the payrolls rise higher and higher as years go by. By the time McCarthy is looking for his first contract after his rookie deal, quarterbacks may be making more money than anybody could imagine.
In the past, we have seen some quarterbacks that weren't in the elite tier of the league able to lead their team to the NFL playoffs and even the Super Bowl because their front office put an incredible team around the QB, rather than paying hundreds of millions of dollars to one. This includes the Eagles with Carson Wentz and Nick Foles and the Rams with Jared Goff.
The Vikings are in the same exact predicament with McCarthy. I wouldn't be surprised to see McCarthy slide into the offense rather seamlessly in the middle of the season. The situation around him should be rather ideal.
