The Vikings should not anticipated to position the franchise tag on quarterback Sam Darnold, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
Darnold was one of this offseason’s strongest tag candidates after turning his profession round in Minnesota final yr. He posted career-bests in a number of statistical classes and ranked fifth amongst all quarterbacks in passing yards and touchdowns. Nevertheless, he ended the season on a low observe, making an already-tough resolution much more troublesome for the Vikings. They might tag Darnold within the hopes that he can lead them deeper within the playoffs in 2025 or let him hit free company and danger shedding a bidding battle.
Minnesota appears to have chosen the latter, although the group nonetheless has curiosity in retaining Darnold. They’ll have to take action with no franchise tag, thereby eliminating the potential for a tag-and-trade.
A Darnold franchise tag has been considered unlikely for a few weeks. At $40.2M, the quarterback franchise tag is just too excessive of a one-year cap burden for the Vikings. Minnesota has the seventh-most cap area within the NFL, according to OverTheCap, however they’ve a number of starters hitting free company that they must re-sign or substitute.
Free company makes essentially the most sense for Darnold, too. After taking part in for 4 completely different groups over the past 5 years, he could also be in search of a long-term house within the NFL. The Vikings nonetheless see 2024 first-rounder J.J. McCarthy as their quarterback of the long run, so any cope with Darnold could be a short-term pact. By hitting the open market, Darnold may have extra flexibility to barter a long-term contract with the potential to incite a bidding battle between QB-needy groups.
