One of the biggest surprises of the 2024 NFL season has been the Minnesota Vikings and quarterback Sam Darnold. Darnold is on his fourth NFL team in seven years, and he’s playing the best football of his professional career. Let’s examine Darnold’s salary, contract, net worth, and career earnings.
Sam Darnold’s Contract and Salary
Back in March, Darnold signed a one-year, $10 million deal with the Vikings. His deal featured a $6.25 million signing bonus and $8.75 million guaranteed at signing, with a cap hit of just $5 million.
Darnold’s contract has quickly become one of the biggest bargains in the NFL. He has the 32nd-highest cap hit among NFL quarterbacks this season, according to Spotrac. Darnold has a lower cap hit ($5 million) than backups like Washington Commanders QB Marcus Mariota ($6 million) and Dallas Cowboys QB Trey Lance ($5.3 million).
Darnold is on his fourth NFL team after previous stints with the New York Jets (who drafted him No. 3 overall in the 2018 NFL Draft), Carolina Panthers, and San Francisco 49ers.
Initially, it seemed like Darnold might be Minnesota’s backup since the Vikings drafted former Michigan Wolverines quarterback J.J. McCarthy with the No. 10 overall pick in this year’s draft. However, during the preseason, McCarthy tore his meniscus and needed season-ending surgery.
Darnold’s Career Earnings and Net Worth
When his 2024 contract is up, Darnold will have earned $65,253,948 from his NFL contracts alone.
Darnold’s net worth is estimated to be roughly $30 million.
In addition to his NFL deals, Darnold has also partnered with companies and made some investments. In his rookie year, he partnered with KonaRed Hawaiian Coffee and publicly invested in Therabody for athlete recovery in 2021.
Darnold has made the most of his opportunity in Minnesota, playing the best football of his career in a contract year. If he finishes the season strong, he could be poised for a huge contract next offseason.
Rams vs. Vikings Game Preview
- Location: Glendale, Arizona; State Farm Field
- Time: 8 p.m. ET
- Channel: ABC, ESPN, ESPN+
Now, Darnold will try to lead the Vikings to a win over the Los Angeles Rams in the Wild Card Round.
The winner of this game will travel to face the No. 2 seeded Philadelphia Eagles, who easily defeated the Green Bay Packers 22-10 in their Wild Card game.
With this being a neutral site game due to the Los Angeles wildfires, the Rams cannot rely on home-field advantage. Away from SoFi Stadium this year, the Rams are 5-3, and they did play once at State Farm Stadium back in Week 2 when they lost to the Arizona Cardinals, 41-10.
The Rams have been playing really great football lately, winning five straight before falling in a meaningless game against the Seattle Seahawks in the season finale, where key players earned much-needed rest.
The Vikings fell from potentially being the No. 1 overall seed to the No. 5 seed when they lost the season finale to the Lions. That game saw Minnesota’s offense stall in the red zone, settling for multiple field goals, as Darnold had one of his worst outings of the year.
Pro Football Network’s OFF+ metric sees this as a top-15 matchup, and there could be potential for many points on Monday night. The Rams are ranked No. 11, and the Vikings are No. 13.
The Rams have a pair of elite receivers — Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua — so counting this team out is irresponsible.
This season, Kyren Williams helped Los Angeles’ offense rank seventh in rushing success rate. The respect Williams demands from opposing defenses has allowed the Rams to rank seventh in third-down avoidance. They constantly operate from ahead of the chains, a common trait of successful offenses.
The passing game hasn’t been the most consistent weekly, leading to a reasonably wide fluctuation in grades. The Rams have four top-five weekly finishes but also four weeks ranking 20th or worse. Still, with Nacua and Kupp healthy, Los Angeles’ upside gives it a fighting chance to win a playoff game for the first time since their Super Bowl 56 victory.
The Vikings have sometimes looked like an elite offensive unit, but several down weeks kept their final ranking outside the top 10. Darnold has affirmatively answered any questions about his ability to lead this team to Super Bowl contention, but Week 18 was a reminder that his floor remains very low.
One of Minnesota’s worst traits this season was the red-zone offense, where they finished 19th in touchdown rate. That reared its ugly head in the division-deciding loss to the Lions, where the Vikings had one success on 14 red-zone plays.
That was the worst red-zone success rate in a game over the last five seasons (min. 10 plays). The passing game finished 10th in success rate, which helped this unit overcome a fairly average rushing game (17th in success rate).
Head coach Kevin O’Connell’s willingness to seek out explosive plays on early downs has helped Darnold avoid difficult situations, as Minnesota avoided third downs at the fifth-highest rate of any offense.
Per Pro Football Network’s Playoff Predictor, with 10,000 simulations, the Rams are an underdog and given just a 43.8% chance of winning against the Vikings.