The Minnesota Vikings have a difficult decision behind center this offseason.
They can bring back veteran quarterback Sam Darnold after the best season of his career and shop youngster J.J. McCarthy. Or, they could allow Darnold to leave in free agency and move forward with McCarthy, who was viewed as Minnesota’s future when the team selected him at No. 10 overall last year.
Former Vikings wide receiver Cris Carter, though, suggested a path forward somewhere in the middle.
Cris Carter Argues Vikings Should Keep Sam Darnold and J.J. McCarthy
When debating what the Vikings should do at quarterback this offseason, it doesn’t necessarily have to be Darnold or McCarthy.
Carter argued while appearing on FanDuel TV’s “Up and Adams” on Feb. 19 that the Vikings should keep both quarterbacks.
“When you have quarterbacks that play well in your system the way Sam Darnold did, I would not let him go in free agency. I would franchise him. Pay him $41 million and then let him and [McCarthy] have a competition come the fall,” Carter told host Kay Adams.
“Now, I think last summer, [McCarthy] might have been ahead of him when he got hurt. But [Darnold], and what [head coach Kevin O’Connell] does there as a coach with the quarterbacks, man. It’s just phenomenal. It’s an incredible what he was able to get out of Sam Darnold because we thought we knew Sam Darnold.”
Darnold experienced his best season in the NFL during his first year with the Vikings in 2024. He led Minnesota to a 14-3 record in which he only lost to two teams in the regular season and playoffs.
Darnold posted a 66.2% completion percentage with 4,319 passing yards and 35 touchdowns. All of those totals were career bests. In the PFSN’s QB+ metric, he finished 12th among all NFL quarterbacks with a B grade.
There are questions about whether Darnold will be able to repeat his 2024 success, especially if on another team next season. Carter defended Darnold, telling Adams that it’s not an insult to say he may be a system quarterback.
“Ninety-nine percent of all the players that play in the National Football League are all system players,” Carter said. “And if we don’t have the right system to highlight our abilities, we will look like average or bad players.”
Cris Carter says stick with Sam Darnold.
— Kay Adams (@heykayadams) February 19, 2025
Carter Suggests Vikings Could Still Trade Darnold After Signing Him
NFL teams don’t tend to stockpile quarterbacks like they do running backs or wide receivers. But Carter seemed to imply that the Vikings would be smart to use that strategy behind center with Darnold and McCarthy this offseason.
If McCarthy wins the starting job, then Carter said the Vikings could trade Darnold.
“He will always be a commodity. You will eventually be able to trade him,” said Carter.
Placing the franchise tag on Darnold will give the quarterback a one-year, $41.325 million deal.
It would be very unusual for a team to trade a player after agreeing to the one-year tender. But Carter made no mention of the Vikings signing a longer-term deal with Darnold this offseason, so that appeared to be what the former wide receiver was insinuating.
It would probably be easier to trade McCarthy with his rookie contract. But that’s only likely to happen if the team feels confident in Darnold going forward and has him signed to a long-term deal.
The NFL’s franchise tag window opened on Feb. 18. The Vikings have until 4 pm ET on March 4 to place the tag on Darnold.