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Franchise Tagging Sam Darnold is the Minnesota Vikings’ Only Option

Posted on December 22, 2024 - 6:17 am by

No one gave the Minnesota Vikings much of a chance this season. Sam Darnold was a former third overall pick, but he had long ago been ruled a bust. But of course, that was before he landed with Kevin O’Connell, where everything changed.

This offseason, Darnold will be in line for a sizable payday, as one of the most desirable quarterbacks on the market. And desirable QBs in the NFL might as well be rivers of gold during the gold rush.

So are we supposed to believe the Vikings are just going to let that kind of asset walk out the door with nothing more to show than a wave goodbye?

Minnesota Vikings must be business focused with Sam Darnold

The Minnesota Vikings initially viewed Sam Darnold as a bridge quarterback. He signed a $10 million deal for one season, and was eventually going to give way to rookie J.J. McCarthy. The way he has played, however, he may never have given the job up, no matter who was behind him.



Sure, the Minnesota Vikings don’t want Darnold for multiple years, at Kirk Cousins type money. But that doesn’t mean they have to let him walk, while getting virtually nothing in return. No, they should franchise tag him instead, which would give Minnesota all the QB options they could possibly want for 2025. The Star Tribune’s Ben Goessling is starting to believe the same thing..

“The more I think about this (franchise tag), the more I think that is a pretty good way to go about it. Yes it’s expensive, but it’s expensive for one year, not several. You don’t have a lot of control over the cap numbers, but you don’t have to deal with it for more than a year. It allows you to make a decision on McCarthy later than like March 15th. You could tag him, and then somebody goes through the draft process and says, ‘you know what we don’t love our options here and we’re picking 8th. There’s two quarterbacks in this thing. What about the 8th pick in the draft for Sam Darnold?’… Maybe it’s somebody that’s got another first rounder and they’ll throw in a second and a first. That would help replenish a team that does not have a lot of draft picks… I still don’t think it’s a bad option to say, let’s tag him and then we control the compensation we get for that even if he’s here and occupying some cap space for a while.“




Ben Goessling on using the franchise tag on Sam Darnold (AccessVikings)

The franchise tag would allow the Minnesota Vikings to squeeze one more year out of Sam Darnold, without committing long term. Is there a level of ruthlessness to controlling Darnold’s future the first time he’s set up for a long-term payday? Sure… maybe.

But be real, the 2025 franchise tag at quarterback is going to be nearly $40 million. He’s getting a huge payday and the Vikings are benefitting from the work they did to develop the quarterback.

There isn’t much benefit for Minnesota in getting a future compensatory pick that comes in the middle rounds. If they could get a first round pick, or something close, then the roster building process becomes that much more exciting.



Through 14 games Darnold has thrown for 3,530 yards along with 29 touchdowns. He has stopped throwing picks and has just 11 on the year. In a watered down quarterback draft, and uncertain free agent landscape, it’s hard not to consider this version of Darnold as the premier option for teams.

By using the tag on Darnold Minnesota isn’t locked into anything but asset management. J.J. McCarthy can still be presumed the Week 1 starter, and Daniel Jones could reset his market by sticking with the Vikings.