Well Minnesota Vikings fans, we are now just one week away from the NFL Scouting Combine taking place in Indianapolis. Over the past decade, the combine has morphed into the ceremonial start of the league’s offseason, just due to its timing and crowd it draws.
It’s a multi-day event that includes lots of dinners, conversations and drinks shared between all of the most important executives, coaches and media insiders from around the league. From the moment media members start arriving in Indy, reports and rumors are flying around insider circles, where they are quickly investigated and churned out to the public.
But if you ask local Minnesota Vikings insiders, they don’t need to wait for the combine. Birds are seemingly chirping into insider ears around town already, and the message being conveyed to these local beat reporters is very similar.
Local insiders convinced Vikings will allow Sam Darnold hit free agency
Over the weekend, Kevin Seifert (ESPN) reported that the Vikings are most likely to let Darnold walk in free agency this offseason, instead of re-signing him or slapping him with the franchise or transition tag. But Seifert isn’t the only one.
On Tuesday, Alec Lewis — who covers the Vikings beat for The Athletic — wrote essentially the same thing. In an article where he ranked the Darnold offseason outcomes from least to most likely, the Vikings insider that he too lands on the final conclusion that Minnesota will wind up letting Sam walk in free agency.
To strengthen his stance, Alec points to Kwesi’s preferred path to success, which has always included a good QB on a rookie contract. In the end, he sees that internal process as the deciding factor in why the Vikings eventually decide to let Sam walk just like they did Kirk Cousins.
If McCarthy’s health continues to trend the way it is, and the Vikings decide their roster is better off without a hefty cap hit at QB, and no other team expresses interest in trading for Darnold, and the Vikings want to create a chance for a compensatory pick, letting Darnold walk is the understandable path.
There aren’t guarantees. McCarthy showed promise last fall, but young quarterbacks come with uncertainty. The team’s free-agent signings could cancel out any compensatory pick. Still, this is the most realistic route if the Vikings are still committed to their chosen path before 2024 (letting Kirk Cousins hit free agency to build an optimal roster around a young QB).
Alec Lewis – The Athletic
But what if the Minnesota Vikings find a trade market for Darnold?
Lewis reveals the biggest caveat to his Sam Darnold projection, though, and it is worth much more than a footnote in his theory. He’s operating under the assumption that “no other team expresses interest in trading for Darnold”.
In other words, whoever is feeding this information to local insiders has seemingly convinced them that franchise tagging Sam Darnold will result in nothing more than an underwhelming trade market for a $40 million QB they ultimately do not want on roster.
But it’s this caveat that has me expecting a 180 degree turn in reporting — surrounding the likelihood that Minnesota uses the franchise tag on Sam Darnold — once the scouting combine starts next week.
Related: BR Pins Top CB as Vikings Must Have Free Agent
Let’s not forget that just last week, there was an NFL GM and agent telling Jason La Canfora (Washington Post) that the Vikings would be stupid to let Darnold walk to free agency. QB needy teams that he has talked to would love to get their hands on Sam, even if it comes at a steep price.
Several executives from quarterback-needy teams, who would have at least some interest in Darnold, suggested he’s not going anywhere. I hear that J.J. McCarthy, who lost his entire rookie year to injury, still has significant work to do to rebuild his body, let alone adjust to the NFL. “They have to tag Darnold,” the first GM said. “Those guys aren’t stupid.”
Jason La Canfora – Washington Post
So, if other national reporters and those inside the Minnesota Vikings front office sit down next week at the combine with other top league executives and find out that a franchise tagged Sam Darnold trade market would be more robust than currently believed, there’s little doubt that would become a much more realistic possibility.