It was a throwaway line. Something people said among friends, a hypothetical.
When the Minnesota Vikings signed Sam Darnold to a one-year, $10 million deal in the offseason, people saw it as a bridge contract. Many felt Darnold would have to lead the Vikings to the Super Bowl to supersede J.J. McCarthy as Minnesota’s franchise quarterback.
Why would the Vikings deal away the player they traded up to No. 10 for in favor of a former third-overall pick who was on his fourth team?
“He was somebody whose skill set we were really excited about,” Kwesi Adofo-Mensah said after drafting McCarthy. “We know we can build around and win with. He’s somebody [who’s] as talented as anybody in the draft.”
The Vikings planned to handle McCarthy with clean hands, easing a 21-year-old who played in Jim Harbaugh’s run-heavy offense into the NFL. McCarthy wouldn’t take a snap from under center until his feet and eyes aligned with his target and he progressed through his reads correctly.
“We’re really trying to build our system…from the ground up,” said Kevin O’Connell.
“No detail is too small and really working at a clip that is learnable, digestible,” he added. “Our job is to maximize our time we do have with him throughout the rest of the spring.”
Still, Adofo-Mensah didn’t label Darnold a bridge quarterback.
“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.”
McCarthy looked the part of a future franchise quarterback against the Las Vegas Raiders in the preseason. However, he suffered knee soreness after the game and eventually had to have season-ending meniscus surgery. Still, few people thought Darnold would be around long-term.
“This has always looked like a transition season for the Vikings before J.J. McCarthy takes over as quarterback and a ton of salary cap space becomes available,” wrote Star Tribune columnist Chip Scoggins. “It’s also a referendum on Sam Darnold and whether he can serve as a functional starting quarterback in the NFL.”
That was the consensus at the time. The Vikings built their defense through free agency, and a rookie quarterback is the most valuable asset in football. However, Darnold changed the equation when he became the first quarterback to win 14 games with a new team and reeled off 13 games with a 100 quarterback rating or better.
“Darnold … really has energy with [Justin] Jefferson and [Jordan] Addison,” Bill Simmons said on his podcast after Darnold’s five-touchdown game against the Atlanta Falcons. “He has almost 3,300 yards – Darnold – 28 touchdowns, and 10 picks, and if they are in Round 1 [of the playoffs], he’ll probably be like a four-plus-point favorite. He’s on a one-year deal.
“They have J.J. McCarthy. I’d be really hesitant not to bring him [Darnold] back. Today was the first day where I was like, ‘Wow, they might have actually found their QB, and maybe they should think about trading J.J. McCarthy.’”
McCarthy became yesterday’s news. Suddenly, Darnold went from seeing ghosts to seeing the specter of a $219 million payday. However, that’s a scary amount of money to fork over to a player who got the jitters in Detroit.
A lot has changed in a month. Like in Week 8, the Vikings will face the Los Angeles Rams on the road again after losing to the Detroit Lions. Vegas favors the Rams by 2.5 points, and people are souring on Darnold as they did after the Week 10 game in Jacksonville.
Nobody will be happy with Darnold or the Vikings if they win 14 games and lose to LA in the first round. Under pressure in Detroit, Darnold reverted to poor footwork. Minnesota still has the opportunity to build McCarthy’s fundamentals from the ground up while on a rookie contract. Unless Darnold leads the Vikings to the Super Bowl, he will probably be playing in another uniform next year.
Much has happened this year, but the Darnold principle remains the same.
