The Irony of Sam Darnold
After five seasons in the NFL, Sam Darnold finally got what he needed: the chance to sit behind a superior quarterback while soaking up wisdom from a great NFL coach.
Initially, Darnold was entrusted with leading a Jets team that has proven to be a mess over the past several years. Getting shipped over to Carolina didn’t go too much better, for the Panthers are among the worst teams in the NFL. The San Francisco opportunity, though, allowed for Darnold to hit the reset button. Ironically, Darnold is now being tasked with giving J.J. McCarthy the chance to develop slowly, the precise opportunity he didn’t get.
Sam Darnold & The Irony of the Vikings’ QB Situation
At No. 3 in the 2018 NFL Draft, the New York Jets took Sam Darnold out of USC. At No. 10 in the 2024 NFL Draft, the Minnesota Vikings took J.J. McCarthy out of Michigan.
There are similarities between those two statements and yet the trajectory is going to look different for the passers. Unless something wild happens, Darnold is the QB1, something that Kevin O’Connell has acknowledged.
“We haven’t had to put out a depth chart or anything like that,” O’Connell notes, “but yeah I would say Sam would be the guy I would look to based upon the spring he’s had. And really where’s he at in his career, in his quarterback journey. And what he’s been able to do coming in and really hit the ground running and really kind of take advantage of a competitive situation.”
At Michigan, McCarthy did plenty of good things. True, he wasn’t setting any records for most passing attempts, but he led the program to a pile of wins while showing off some strong accuracy, athleticism, and leadership. Minnesota was impressed, leading to a modest hop up the board to get him to Eagan.
By sinking No. 10 in the 21-year-old J.J. McCarthy, the Vikings signalled that their full intention is to hand off the offense to the new QB before too long.
Darnold, in short, is a mercenary for hire. If Sam Darnold shines in September while leading his team to wins aplenty, does the rookie even see the field in 2024? Maybe not, and that’s OK. The point with McCarthy isn’t 2024. The Vikings are thinking about the long term with their young passer. Darnold is helping Minnesota to accomplish their goal while hopefully playing strong football right now.
By 2025, the job will basically have been done. McCarthy will have had time to marinate on the bench, soaking up vital wisdom about life in the NFL, mastering the scheme, and continuing to develop his body.
Darnold’s 59.7% career completion rate is an eyesore, a number that would need to start flirting with 65% to justify an ongoing status as the top quarterback. And then the passing yards would need to get to around 4,000 while the touchdown passes march into the mid-20s (at least).
In that scenario, the Vikings would have a low-end QB1 who is still young enough to play another five-to-ten years in the NFL. Darnold could re-enter free agency and command some reasonably major money from a team looking for their QB solution.
Currently, Darnold is playing for just $10 million, but Minnesota has chopped the cap hit in half with some void year tomfoolery. The cap charge is divided equally between 2024 and 2025 at $5 million apiece.
By 2025, though, the team should belong to J.J. McCarthy, the young QB who had the opportunity to learn slowly in a manner that eluded Sam Darnold for several seasons.
Editor’s Note: Information from Pro Football Reference and Over the Cap helped with this piece.
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K. Joudry is the Senior Editor for Vikings Territory and PurplePTSD. He has been covering the Vikings full time since the summer of 2021. He can be found on Twitter and as a co-host for Notes from the North, a humble Vikings podcast.
