The Minnesota Vikings went out with a whimper on a Monday night and, in the process, Sam Darnold may have cost himself any chance of returning as the club’s undisputed starting quarterback. A pleasant surprise for much of an explosive 2024 campaign, the official He completely crashed at the finish line.leaving the Vikings with back-to-back high-risk busts before an inevitable trip to free agency in the spring.
Could Darnold return on another team-friendly tryout deal, with first-round rookie JJ McCarthy still recovering from multiple knee surgeries? It is possible. It’s just as likely, if not more likely, that the Vikings’ brass will say, “Thanks, but no thanks,” weighing Darnold’s end more heavily than his 14-3 regular-season record. After all, they let a more established Kirk Cousins go the year before and made a premium investment in McCarthy.
However, should Darnold sign elsewhere, the Vikings will almost certainly look for some form of cheaper insurance for McCarthy. Darnold filled that role in 2024 and coincidentally seized the moment, exceeding expectations to the end. So what names might be on your radar? Here are some candidates to join the ship as 2025 Airmen, either in competition with McCarthy or as alternative options:
The Vikings originally added Darnold after spending a year learning under Kyle Shanahan with the San Francisco 49ers. Garoppolo once attended two NFC title games as Shanahan’s point guard, and he just spent 2024 backing up Matthew Stafford for O’Connell’s former boss, Sean McVay. At 33 years old and with a checkered injury history, Garoppolo knows his place at No. 2, and he also has ties to Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, who worked in the 49ers front office when Garoppolo helped the team. to reach the Super Bowl. He’s a prototypically solid, if unspectacular, pocket passer with at least a big-game resume.
The former New York Giants starter did not play a single snap for the Vikings after joining the club’s practice squad in November. But he came into the building and made connections, and like Darnold before him, he’s experienced (69 career starts) and young enough (27) to be molded by O’Connell. Jones has never shown elite passing ability down the field, but his mobility and short-area touch helped the Giants defeat Minnesota in the playoffs in 2022. Perhaps he’d prefer to stay with a winning organization, knowing there’s a path to a higher job.
Lance supposedly had the interest of the vikings before Cousins’ final year in town, which even led Minnesota to check with the 49ers about his availability. Since then, the former first-rounder hasn’t exactly improved his stock, appearing in just five games as the Dallas Cowboys’ third-string quarterback. The NDSU product is as unknown as McCarthy, even four years into his NFL career. But he’s still only 24 years old, knows the area as a Minnesota native and offers tantalizing athleticism.
