Vikings Positioned to Replace Sam Darnold With $160 Million Rival QB

Sam Darnold is expected to land a starting job elsewhere next season, meaning the Minnesota Vikings should be on the search for another veteran quarterback to take his place.

Yes, J.J. McCarthy will be the Day 1 starter for the 2025 season if everything goes according to plan, but he’s also the only quarterback under contract beyond this season.

The Vikings need to find a capable veteran backup quarterback who could also push McCarthy for the starting role if the rookie is not ready by next season.

Daniel Jones fits that mold. The New York Giants benched Jones this week as his future in New York looks bleak despite his physical gifts as the No. 6 pick in the 2019 draft.

Former NFL MVP quarterback Matt Ryan said that Jones is capable of reviving his career but needs some time as a backup to reassess how he plays the position — a similar path Darnold took before he landed with the Vikings.

“We’ve seen the reemergence of guys like Baker Mayfield and Sam Darnold, where it’s taken a few stops along the way and they’ve gotten back into a good situation and they’ve had production,” Ryan said on CBS Sports HQ Monday. “I think Daniel Jones is hoping for a situation like that — be a backup for a year or two and kind of learn and maybe get an opportunity to play — and play well enough to earn a starting role.”

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Vikings Positioned to Sign Daniel Jones as a Backup

If the Giants release Jones, who signed a four-year, $160 million deal in 2023, in the upcoming offseason as expected, the Vikings could sign Jones on an affordable contract to serve as backup to McCarthy.

That comes with the potential that Jones could reinvent his career in the same situation that was a boon to Darnold’s career if McCarthy misses any time.

“I look at starting positions that are gonna be open next year and I don’t see a place where an organization is gonna pay Daniel Jones that starting quarterback money right now,” Ryan added. “I think he goes to the bench for a little while. … I just don’t see a spot for him as starting quarterback next year.”

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Sam Darnold Playing Out of Vikings’ Price Range

When general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah took over for Rick Spielman in 2022, he inherited a tangled web of backloaded veteran contracts that hindered the team’s ability to rebuild.

But after moving on from Kirk Cousins and Danielle Hunter, the Vikings’ financial future was uplifted — and Adofo-Mensah got to spending.

He signed numerous difference-makers on defense that have lifted the unit into top-5 territory while also extending franchise cornerstones Justin Jefferson and Christian Darrisaw.

Currently 8-2, the Vikings are evidence of what a team can do when they are not hamstrung by a veteran quarterback contract and can make meaningful additions elsewhere. They’ve done so despite eating $68 million in dead cap, the third-most dead cap in the league, largely from prorated bonuses due to Cousins and Hunter accelerating onto this year’s cap.

Next season, Minnesota won’t be restricted by that same stature of dead cap. They are projected to have $74.4 million in cap space, the seventh-most in the league. For the first time in nearly a decade, the Vikings will be big-game hunting in free agency.

A large share of that cap space is available because of McCarthy’s rookie deal. He’s due only $4.9 million next season, and if McCarthy can reach Darnold’s level of play next season, he will be incredibly valuable considering his affordability.

Adofo-Mensah planned to reach a point where he could exploit the benefits of a rookie-scale quarterback contract by building a better team than the Vikings ever could while tied down by Cousins’ contract.

Re-signing Darnold would undo that work.

Originally signing a one-year, $10 million contract akin to a quality backup deal, Darnold is playing up a starting quarterback stature and deserves a chance to be paid like one.

Spotrac projects him to garner a $32.4 million-a-year deal, which is out of the Vikings’ price range.

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