Playoffs should be based on record. Division winners get, but in no way should a 14-3 non division winner should go on the road to a 8-9 team. It’s ridiculous.
***2026 Minnesota Vikings***
- Thread starter Marcelason78
- Start date
100p.
Crazy thing is Green Bay is mostly likely going to have 12 wins which is much better than the other 2 divisions too
Lions are at San Fran and host vikings to close
Vikings host Green Bay and are at lions
If both the Vikings and lions win next week 14-2, then it all comes down to the last game at Detroit
Winner gets nfc home field and a bye
Loser goes to the 5 seed and has 1st round game on the road
What do think the odds are that the Vikes will pay Sam $40 million and be in purple next year? A long term deal or just letting him walk seems very unlikely. At least right now. Win a game or two in the playoffs— then who knows.
- Mar 27, 2006
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I think they'll offer him a contract, maybe in the 3 year range, giving him the opportunity for another big contract while he's still 30-31, and if Sam wants more than that, they'll say thanks, and good luck. Same thing they did with Kirk.
Darnold definitely deserves a lot of credit for his performance, but O'Connell has established himself as a bit of a quarterback whisperer. He's got JJ waiting in the wings and another first round restoration project on the practice squad. I'm sure he's supremely confident in his ability to get the best out of any qb.
Imo they’ll franchise him before they let him walk. He isn’t a 36 year old coming off a torn Achilles like Cousins.
I think KOC said he wouldn’t tie Darnolds hands with a tag if he wanted to go seek a huge long term contract. But it’s a business so can’t believe much of what anyone says until it happens
Doubt they franchise him. They will sign him so they have more flexibility with salary cap.
And how much? Darnold should definitely make much less than Purdy. And franchise tag costs around $41 million.
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Kevin O'Connell is pretty good at this. Minnesota has a heck of a coach.
Vikings are in great shape for the cap in 2025. I think they are right now projected to have something like the 5th most cap space in the league.
I was really critical of Kwesi based on his first draft, but the staff hires and the way he quickly turned over a bloated contract, post-prime defense was an A+. Obviously, Flores deserves a massive amount of praise. I think the only reason the Vikings might get Flores back is because everybody wants to hire offensive guys.
They could tag Darnold and still have space to upgrade the rest of the roster, then make a decision about McCarthy for 2026.
I would be 100% in favor of trading McCarthy and picking up some other positions. I wasn't sold on him coming in and doing much anyway. I could be wrong on this, but who knows.
My two cents, I would find a way to have both Darnold and McCarthy on the roster to start the year, which they should be able to do with their salary cap situation. How they do it probably depends on what Darnold and his agent are looking for. If they want a longer term deal and are willing to take middle of the road veteran starting QB money, you can do that and be able to trade him if you like what you have in McCarthy after seeing him in some regular season action. Or if they end up thinking Darnold is the long term answer that would be reasonable value. If Darnold and his agent want big money then you either sign him to something short term or franchise tag him and hope you like what you see out of McCarthy.
I would doubt that Darnold’s agent gives the Vikes any discount. This is Sam’s opportunity to cash in and he’ll easily exceed Mayfield’s contract numbers.
With every win and all-pro level performance by Sam, I’m starting to believe pundits who think the Vikes will sign him to a long term deal.
I would call middle of the road veteran starting QB money something like what Josh Allen is making. At that level I don't think they would be giving any discount.
No one does.
It’s a crapshoot on hitting on QBs, although the franchise and coach the QB goes to has a big impact
Darold was regarded as a better QB prospect coming out of USC than McCarthy was a year ago. People had their minds set on him from his first 3 seasons with the JETS, plus a couple injury ridden seasons with Carolina. Two of the worst situations for a young QB
If Minnesota is dumb enough to sign a QB to a mega deal and blow all of the future cap space they eliminated from Kirk, I will switch my fandom to the Kansas City full-time...
Unless your QB is Mahomes or Josh Allen.. I'd rather go cheap and have a top 5 roster.. KOC can coach QB's, so why throw $50M/yr at QB when that could get you 5 very high level starters on the roster????
Unless your QB is Mahomes or Josh Allen.. I'd rather go cheap and have a top 5 roster.. KOC can coach QB's, so why throw $50M/yr at QB when that could get you 5 very high level starters on the roster????
