The Minnesota Vikings’ choice to let Sam Darnold walk in free agency ended up benefiting the Seattle Seahawks. During the offseason, Seattle signed Darnold to a three-year, $100.5 million contract, naming him their preferred successor to Geno Smith.
Despite that strong performance, the Vikings ultimately decided to hand the starting job back to J.J. McCarthy, allowing Darnold to move on. However, this decision could come back to haunt Minnesota, at least for this season, as CBS Sports’ Garrett Podell predicts the Vikings will finish last in the NFC North after letting Darnold leave.
“All of [the Vikings’] offensive talent will be asked to uplift the 2024 10th overall pick J.J. McCarthy,” Podell wrote in a September 4 article. “The issue is McCarthy’s draft makeup entering his rookie year was that of a bust…
“The NFC North is one of the top divisions in football, and the Vikings entering 2025 with an inexperienced quarterback who didn’t produce at a high level in college could add up to a last-place finish for Minnesota.”
Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell was comfortable making this decision despite Darnold’s production. When the Vikings’ 2024 first-round pick, McCarthy, suffered a season-ending knee injury in preseason, Darnold took over as the starter and delivered a breakout year, passing for 4,319 yards and 35 touchdowns.
Will the Vikings Regret Letting Sam Darnold Walk?
Podell isn’t the only person concerned about the Vikings’ decision to let Darnold walk after helping them lead the team to 14 wins and a playoff berth. To go from the postseason to potentially finishing last would be a fall from grace, which is why ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith stated his confusion on the Vikings not keeping Darnold.
On the September 3 edition of ESPN’s “First Take,“ Smith stated that he wants to watch the debut of McCarthy because of the Vikings going with the unknown over a guy who helped them reach the playoffs last season.
“Sam Darnold was playing for [the Vikings] last year,“ Smith said. “That man threw 35 touchdowns—okay, 35 touchdowns—with 12 interceptions, over 4,300 yards, and you let him walk out the door. Why did you let him walk out the door? Why didn’t you pursue Aaron Rodgers?
“Because of some rookie from Michigan, J.J. McCarthy, who was the first top-10 quarterback drafted that never threw for 3,000 yards in a season, never rushed for more than 500 yards in a season. That’s never happened before with a top-10 quarterback pick. But that’s what we’re talking about with J.J. McCarthy.”
Seahawks QB Sam Darnold Will Also Have Something to Prove
While the Vikings will be looking to show that they made the right decision going with McCarthy, Darnold also has a chip on his shoulder. The Seahawks quarterback will look to show that last season was no fluke and that he’s a late bloomer after finding stabilizing situations.
Furthermore, even though Darnold is probably happy in Seattle after signing a lucrative contract, there’s likely a side of him that wants to prove to the Vikings that they made a mistake in letting him walk.
Nonetheless, it will be interesting to see how these two situations will play out as they are connected due to quarterback decisions from this past offseason.
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