It was the postgame comment heard around the world.
“Do me a favor and remember something,” Kevin O’Connell told Indianapolis Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson after the Minnesota Vikings beat the Colts in Week 9 of the 2024 season. “You’re a bad dude. You’re gonna play a long time in this league.”
Think about the context of this exchange for a moment.
Minnesota tried to trade up for Richardson, whom the Colts took fourth-overall in 2023. Richardson started four games as a rookie and produced an 87.3 quarterback rating. It looked like the Vikings missed out on drafting a franchise quarterback.
However, Richardson traded off starts with Joe Flacco in 2024. Flacco started the Vikings game and went 16 of 27 for 179 yards and a pick, looking every part of 39 years old. However, Sam Darnold didn’t look much better, and Minnesota was faltering in what should have been the easy part of their schedule.
The Detroit Lions and Los Angeles Rams had beaten the Vikings after their Week 5 bye, a harbinger for what was to come later in the season. The Week 9 game against Indianapolis was an opportunity for Minnesota to get right. Darnold finished the game 28 of 34 for 290 yards with three touchdowns and two picks. The Vikings were down 7-0 entering halftime.
Darnold had his worst game a week later, when he threw three picks in a 12-7 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars. The Vikings may have turned to J.J. McCarthy at that point had he been healthy. But they didn’t, and everyone knows Darnold’s trajectory after that. He rallied and led the Vikings on a nine-game win streak before faltering against the Lions and Rams again to end the season.
A year later, he has led the Seattle Seahawks to the Super Bowl.
Minnesota likely overreacted to those final two games, which were as much a product of poor interior offensive line play as Darnold’s inability to read the defense. O’Connell also probably wanted to develop a quarterback whom the team drafted rather than rely on a reclamation project who built up bad habits.
In hindsight, the Vikings should have franchise-tagged him to give McCarthy another year to fix his mechanics, then decided who to commit to long-term. However, Minnesota thought they had hedged Darnold’s departure and McCarthy’s youth by signing Daniel Jones after the New York Giants released him last year.
The Vikings made a competitive offer to Jones in the offseason. Still, he chose to sign with Indianapolis because he felt he could beat out Anthony Richardson for the starting job.
Jones did beat out Richardson and led the Colts to an 8-2 record before their bye week. He had over 3,000 yards passing and a 100.2 passer rating before suffering a season-ending Achilles tear. However, he also played against one of the league’s easiest schedules behind an unusually healthy offensive line.
Kevin O’Connell and Co. likely rue missing out on Darnold more than Jones. Darnold’s ascent since leaving Minnesota probably factored into the Wilfs’ decision to fire Kwesi Adofo-Mensah last week.
But so did the fact that ownership committed $350 million to a roster that went 4-8 and was out of the playoffs by December. Minnesota’s draft picks from 2022 to 2025 also only produced 172 snaps, the second-lowest in the league. Still, Adofo-Mensah likely keeps his job if the Vikings had handled the quarterback position better.
O’Connell holds more power after Minnesota fired Adofo-Mensah. Longtime cap guru Rob Brzezinski will lead the Vikings through the draft. Still, he will likely take significant input from O’Connell on offensive personnel and Brian Flores on defensive players. Former Colts general manager Ryan Grigson, who served as Adofo-Mensah’s assistant GM, will also probably assist in the draft process.
The Vikings must figure out how to better manage their quarterback situation than they did last year. They haven’t committed to J.J. McCarthy, who wasn’t ready to lead Minnesota to the playoffs this season. Trading for Joe Burrow is a pipe dream. Mac Jones might be too expensive. Aaron Rodgers and Joe Flacco are geriatric.
Minnesota may turn to Richardson, whom they tried to trade up for on draft night. O’Connell probably doesn’t want to give up on McCarthy, especially after he played well late in the season. Still, if O’Connell believes that Richardson is a franchise quarterback, he may have an opportunity to get him.
Managing two young, developing quarterbacks would be challenging. But, as the Vikings learned last year, they need a quarterback solution. A year after the Colts snagged Daniel Jones out from underneath Minnesota’s grasp, the Vikings have an opportunity to return the favor with a player whom they once thought would become their franchise quarterback.
