Sam Darnold's Future and Value After This Past Season

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00:00Let's start with Sam Darnold.

00:03What is the status of Sam Darnold after that miserable performance?

00:07Now, I blame half of it on his offensive line.

00:10The guy got sacked nine times.

00:12He got abused, but he was going to be worth this much money, probably $40 million or more,

00:18and now those days seem long gone.

00:20Yeah.

00:21So a couple of things.

00:22He's a free agent, right?

00:23So he had signed a deal with the Vikings for around $9 million, right, $8.75 million was

00:29the exact number.

00:30Obviously, he outplayed that in any significant way.

00:32Up to the final two games where he got sacked a lot, yes, the offensive line had major problems.

00:38There's no question about that.

00:39There's no denying it.

00:40But the problem that I had in this last game against the Rams is, and I get he was trying

00:46to make plays, he kept holding on to the football, holding on to the football, and the knock

00:49on him, Scott, there were three things prior to the season.

00:54Seeing the rush, handling the blitz, and holding the ball too long.

00:58They were all connected, and you saw that manifest itself over the final two games with

01:01the Vikings.

01:02Now, up to that point, the question would be is, how much would the deal be coming back

01:08to the Vikings?

01:09Because you can't walk away from a guy who's playing at this level.

01:12But now, J.J. McCarthy plays into it, right?

01:15Now, J.J. McCarthy wound up not playing this season, as we know, with a torn meniscus.

01:21He got hurt in that first preseason game against the Raiders.

01:23He actually played very well, but unfortunately got hurt.

01:26So they really don't know a lot about him.

01:28He started to come on late in training camp, and unfortunately had this injury in the preseason,

01:33so that set him back.

01:35But the Vikings, I know for a fact, have not made any decisions where they're going to

01:38pursue bringing back Donald yet.

01:40But Donald's certainly in the conversation to do it.

01:43But it's certainly, these two games show that he's always capable of regressing back to

01:47where he was for the season, which was a journeyman quarterback.

01:51He never played well, Scott, in his career, never.

01:53He can never string one or two good games together.

01:56This year, he was absolutely phenomenal.

01:59My vote is due tonight by midnight, and I can tell you this.

02:01I'm going to give you this right now.

02:02I am voting for the most improved offensive player in the NFL, Sam Darnold.

02:07There's no question about it.

02:08He came out of nowhere, like Jano Smith did three years ago.

02:10Nobody saw that coming after 10 years.

02:12This is a great story.

02:13And also, by the way, it's not like he's 30.

02:15He's actually pretty young.

02:17He'll get a good free agent deal, whether it's with the Vikings or not.

02:20But the Vikings have leverage here because of J.J. McCarthy.

02:23We don't want to beat Darnold up too much, because you're right about the offensive line.

02:27But he also has to take responsibility.

02:29That ball's got to come out, and he's got to see the rush better.

02:32That was the problem, particularly in this last game with the Vikings.

02:35And by the way, Darnold is by far the best free agent quarterback.

02:37This is a bad year, I can tell you right now.

02:40It's a bad year for free.

02:41You and I will talk more about the draft later on.

02:44But the early word is it's a two quarterback first round.

02:47That's it in 2025.

02:49So do you think he's going to make over $30 million, and is your guess he stays in Minnesota

02:54or not?

02:56I would say this.

02:57Up to the final two games, a lot to return.

03:00Not anymore, because of the way that he played and because of McCarthy.

03:04I know in coaching, you never walk away from players who play super high-level football.

03:08You just don't do it.

03:09But you have to be alarmed at the way he just played here.

03:11And by the way, the contract.

03:12So let's get to that before we move on to the Saturday and Sunday games.

03:16I look at him getting a sort of bridge deal.

03:19I do not see anyone committing to $40 million, $50 million a year.

03:22That's not going to happen.

03:24You look at Baker Mayfield's deal, which is around $33 million.

03:27If enough teams are involved, he could get up to $35 million.

03:30Somewhere between $30 million and $35 million with the first two years fully guaranteed.

03:34Because what that gives you, Scott, is obviously if you're bringing him in as a free agent,

03:38you've got to give him two years where you can't get out of the contract, because why

03:41would Darnold do it otherwise?

03:43But after that, because he's not proven himself.

03:46This is one year he's done it, Scott.

03:48It's one year that he's done it.

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