Very like other teams entering free agency, it’s unclear who the Vikings’ starting quarterback will likely be in 2025.
Unlike those quarterback-needy squads — ahem, the Giants — Minnesota has options on the position, notably last 12 months’s tenth overall pick, J.J. McCarthy, who missed the season as a consequence of injury while former Jets bust Sam Darnold led the team to a playoff berth after a 14-3 campaign.
With Darnold’s future as a free agent still uncertain, not to say the murkiness of the Vikings’ QB hierarchy, McCarthy said this week during an appearance on “The Wealthy Eisen Show” that while he hasn’t received anything concrete from coach Kevin O’Connell, he just wants a “fair” shake at taking the reins to the starting job.
“All I could ask for is a good opportunity,” McCarthy said, in keeping with CBS Sports. “That’s the one thing I feel like everybody’s given and it’s fundamental. When money gets involved, things get complicated and reps get skewed and there’s various things that come into the entire political world that everybody talks about. I actually just should give attention to controlling what I can control. My feelings don’t matter. I’m not getting any grace. There’s no sympathy, that is the large leagues.”
The Vikings originally signed Darnold, the Jets’ first-round pick in 2018, to a one-year, $10 million deal last March. A month later, the team chosen McCarthy in the primary round of the 2024 NFL Draft.
Although the 2 competed in training camp, Darnold assumed the starting role in August after McCarthy underwent surgery on his meniscus.
From there, Darnold experienced a profession resurgence, throwing for 4,319 yards, 35 touchdowns against 12 interceptions this season, along with his play fueling speculation as as to whether the Vikings would put McCarthy on the trading block.
That bubble burst in January, when Darnold first imploded against the Lions with the NFC’s top seed on the road in a Week 18 loss, before cratering within the Vikings’ wild-card defeat against the Rams.
“Could he have played higher tonight? I’m sure he would inform you he could have,” O’Connell said after the 27-9 loss on Jan. 13. “… Sam, and the journey him and I went on this 12 months, will all the time be something that’s a special place in my heart, of course.”
Even after Darnold’s disastrous skid, though, Vikings brass didn’t immediately anoint McCarthy because the team’s starter of the long run.
“He’s on the sector, throwing and training,” Vikings GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah said of McCarthy last month. “He looks great. He’s excited … You discuss a child who’s just obsessive about football and loves being across the game. So, we’re enthusiastic about what we have now in him. We’re excited for this offseason for him. It’s a giant offseason. After which, we’ll proceed from there.”
There’s also the matter of Daniel Jones, whom they signed to the practice squad the autumn following his release from the Giants. He was signed to the energetic roster in January.
Clubs can start franchise tagging players on Feb. 18 and have until March 4 to achieve this. The free agency negotiation period begins on March 10.
Very like other teams entering free agency, it’s unclear who the Vikings’ starting quarterback will likely be in 2025.
Unlike those quarterback-needy squads — ahem, the Giants — Minnesota has options on the position, notably last 12 months’s tenth overall pick, J.J. McCarthy, who missed the season as a consequence of injury while former Jets bust Sam Darnold led the team to a playoff berth after a 14-3 campaign.
With Darnold’s future as a free agent still uncertain, not to say the murkiness of the Vikings’ QB hierarchy, McCarthy said this week during an appearance on “The Wealthy Eisen Show” that while he hasn’t received anything concrete from coach Kevin O’Connell, he just wants a “fair” shake at taking the reins to the starting job.
“All I could ask for is a good opportunity,” McCarthy said, in keeping with CBS Sports. “That’s the one thing I feel like everybody’s given and it’s fundamental. When money gets involved, things get complicated and reps get skewed and there’s various things that come into the entire political world that everybody talks about. I actually just should give attention to controlling what I can control. My feelings don’t matter. I’m not getting any grace. There’s no sympathy, that is the large leagues.”
The Vikings originally signed Darnold, the Jets’ first-round pick in 2018, to a one-year, $10 million deal last March. A month later, the team chosen McCarthy in the primary round of the 2024 NFL Draft.
Although the 2 competed in training camp, Darnold assumed the starting role in August after McCarthy underwent surgery on his meniscus.
From there, Darnold experienced a profession resurgence, throwing for 4,319 yards, 35 touchdowns against 12 interceptions this season, along with his play fueling speculation as as to whether the Vikings would put McCarthy on the trading block.
That bubble burst in January, when Darnold first imploded against the Lions with the NFC’s top seed on the road in a Week 18 loss, before cratering within the Vikings’ wild-card defeat against the Rams.
“Could he have played higher tonight? I’m sure he would inform you he could have,” O’Connell said after the 27-9 loss on Jan. 13. “… Sam, and the journey him and I went on this 12 months, will all the time be something that’s a special place in my heart, of course.”
Even after Darnold’s disastrous skid, though, Vikings brass didn’t immediately anoint McCarthy because the team’s starter of the long run.
“He’s on the sector, throwing and training,” Vikings GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah said of McCarthy last month. “He looks great. He’s excited … You discuss a child who’s just obsessive about football and loves being across the game. So, we’re enthusiastic about what we have now in him. We’re excited for this offseason for him. It’s a giant offseason. After which, we’ll proceed from there.”
There’s also the matter of Daniel Jones, whom they signed to the practice squad the autumn following his release from the Giants. He was signed to the energetic roster in January.
Clubs can start franchise tagging players on Feb. 18 and have until March 4 to achieve this. The free agency negotiation period begins on March 10.
