Before the season, Brian Flores laid out his defensive principles and challenged everyone on the Minnesota Vikings’ defense.
“I see you playing this type of football over the course of the season with consistency,” he said, relaying his message to the media on Tuesday. “Everyone really gets that. I have that conversation with everyone.”
Flores later identified Byron Murphy, Andrew Van Ginkel, Blake Cashman, and Jonathan Greenard as the players who must set the tone for the rest of the defense.
“As a leader of the group, you kind of envision what it’ll look like,” said Flores. “There’s certain guys that gotta play at a certain level for the group to play up to its potential, and [Murphy] was certainly one of them. Ginkel was also one of them, Cashman, JG – kind of that core group of guys who were playing a significant amount of snaps.”
The Vikings acquired every player in Flores’ core group through free agency:
- Greenard: four years, $76 million ($5.74 million cap hit)
- Cashman: three years, $22.5 million ($3.19 million cap hit)
- Van Ginkel: two years, $20 million ($3.4 million cap hit)
- Murphy: two years, $17.5 million ($10.91 million cap hit)
Compare the money the Vikings are spending on defense to their quarterback situation:
- Kirk Cousins: $28.5 million dead cap
- J.J. McCarthy: four years, $21.85 million ($3.97 million cap hit)
- Sam Darnold: one year, $10 million ($5 million cap hit)
- Nick Mullens: two years, $4 million ($1.725 million cap hit)
- Brett Rypien: one year, $1.125 million ($985,000 cap hit)
- Daniel Jones: practice squad ($100,800 cap hit)
McCarthy is the only quarterback on Minnesota’s payroll for next year. Meanwhile, the Vikings have their defensive core, except for Murphy, locked in for next season.
That didn’t appear to be an issue when Darnold looked like he turned into a pumpkin in Jacksonville. However, his five-touchdown, 347-yard performance in Minnesota’s 42-21 win over Kirk Cousins and the Atlanta Falcons has made people wonder if the Vikings should extend him and trade McCarthy.
Darnold isn’t going to play for $10 million next year. Spotrac estimates he’ll sign for four years, $137.5 million. They list Baker Mayfield (three years, $100 million) and Daniel Jones (four years, $160 million) as comparable players. Like any investment, past performance doesn’t guarantee future results. Mayfield has replaced Jameis Winston as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers franchise quarterback; Jones is on Minnesota’s practice squad.
“I would hope he would kind of say, ‘Hey, the body of work that I’ve put in so far is going to take care of the future, so really all I need to worry about is right now,’”said offensive coordinator Wes Phillips.
“We all know that Sam is going to be a sought-after type of guy from wherever that may be. Whatever his future ends up being, I know all of us in this building are going to be happy for him, no matter where that ends up being.”
Read into that what you will. We know the Vikings signed most of their defensive core this summer, landing Greenard, Van Ginkel, and Cashman on multi-year, cap-friendly deals. They also traded up to draft McCarthy and signed Darnold to a one-year contract. Add it up, and it looks like the plan was to have Darnold start and move on to McCarthy when the rookie was ready.
However, Kwesi Adofo-Mensah pushed back on the idea that Darnold’s stay in Minnesota would be short. “I’m not going to call him a bridge quarterback,” he said. “He’s a quarterback that’s on our roster under contract for a year.”
The notion that Darnold would be in purple for more than a year felt laughable then. But now it feels very real. Still, Adofo-Mensah flipped the cap by moving on from Cousins and Danielle Hunter in the offseason. Cousins’ $28.5 million dead cap is Minnesota’s highest cap hit; Hunter’s $14.9 million is the third, ahead of Murphy, Justin Jefferson, Harrison Smith, and T.J. Hockenson. Cousins and Hunter come off the books next year.
Darnold, 27, is in his prime. He’s a former third-overall pick who analysts compared to Andrew Luck and Brett Favre. Minnesota would be signing him through his prime years. He’s the bird in hand; McCarthy, who recently underwent a second knee surgery, remains in the bush. The Vikings might be wise to go with the known instead of the unknown, given they’re in a contention window.
With Cousins, the Vikings were trying to turn a Ford into a Ferrari. Conversely, Kevin O’Connell repaired Darnold after the New York Jets and Carolina Panthers left him for dead. Darnold has better pocket presence than Cousins and is more willing to push the ball downfield. He offers more horsepower, enough to electrify Minnesota’s offense when he avoids turnovers.
The Vikings may have exorcized Darnold’s demons, but extending Darnold changes their cap math. They could fill out Flores’ defense with premier players because they moved on from Cousins. It’s harder to do that if Darnold is making $35 million per year.
After listing Greenard, Murphy, Cashman, and Van Ginkel as Minnesota’s core defensive group, Flores highlighted Harrison Phillips and Jonathan Bullard, who are unheralded but vital role players. The Vikings signed Phillips and Bullard as free agents and later extended them. If history is a reliable indicator, they will need cap space to maintain one of the league’s best defenses.
Flores has had success with undrafted or overlooked players. Phillips is on a two-year, $15 million deal, but Bullard signed for one year at $2.25 million. Jalen Redmond was in the XFL last year and played 53% of the snaps against Atlanta. The Vikings grabbed Jamin Davis off the Green Bay Packers’ practice squad, and he’s had immediate success under Flores.
“Everybody roots for the underdog,” said Flores. “Those guys have a chip on their shoulder.
“It’s all about timing,” he added. “If they’re in the right environment with the right people, right coaches, right situation, and they work at it, then they give themselves the best chance.”
Minnesota’s Darnold decision will likely come down to what they feel will create the right environment for their players. Are they better off with a quarterback on a rookie contract and one of the league’s best defenses? Or with a starter entering his prime who turned his career around and less cap space?
The Vikings have created branching timelines with McCarthy and Darnold. There are many variables. Will McCarthy’s knee properly heal? Is Darnold the player he was in Jacksonville and the two games leading up to it? Or is he the quarterback he has been since?
Still, there’s one constant. O’Connell and Flores seem to get the best out of their players, giving them the flexibility to move on from Darnold if they value having the cap space to build an elite defense. Few teams have that option, but the Vikings have earned it.
