Insider, executive differ on Vikings' supposed plans for Sam Darnold, J.J. McCarthy

Several people have recently speculated that the Minnesota Vikings could keep current starting quarterback Sam Darnold and rookie J.J. McCarthy as teammates for another season by retaining Darnold's rights for 2025 via the franchise tag. 

According to an update shared by Kevin Seifert of ESPN on Monday, the Vikings haven't yet closed the door on potentially offering Darnold a multi-year deal with the club at 11-2 heading into the "Monday Night Football" home game against the 4-9 Chicago Bears. 

"Darnold has played well enough to leave the Vikings more open-minded about their 2025 plans than many realize, according to sources familiar with the Vikings' thinking," Seifert explained. "They have not ruled out offering him a contract for next season, despite widespread assumptions they will let him sign elsewhere in free agency and hand the job to McCarthy, who has spent his rookie season recovering from a torn meniscus in his right knee." 

Darnold signed a one-year contract with Minnesota this past offseason and has since emerged as a candidate to earn some Comeback Player of the Year Award votes. According to ESPN stats, he heads into Monday's contest ranked third in the NFL with a 108.1 passer rating, fifth with 28 passing touchdowns and 10th with 3,299 yards through the air for the season. 

After Darnold picked up his 11th win of the campaign, ESPN's Ben Solak boldly suggested that the Vikings should look to re-sign the 27-year-old and then make McCarthy available to other clubs less than 12 months after Minnesota chose the Michigan product with the 10th overall pick of the 2024 draft. At least one unnamed executive indicated while speaking with The Athletic's Mike Sando that people around the league don't think the Vikings will go down such a road this coming offseason.

"McCarthy is their guy," the executive said about the Vikings. "The talking heads think they are crazy to let Darnold go, but they don’t have the same conviction on McCarthy as the Vikings do." 

For now, Darnold will try to bolster his worth to the Vikings and other clubs against opponents such as the Bears. As of Monday morning, DraftKings Sportsbook listed Minnesota as a seven-point favorite for that matchup.