QB Sam Darnold Predicted to Depart Vikings for NFC Rival

The Minnesota Vikings remain behind Sam Darnold for now, but his one-year contract and recent downturn in play don’t bode well for the quarterback’s future in Minneapolis.

When asked where he believes Darnold will play football in 2025, ESPN’s Dan Graziano predicted an NFC West Division squad recently linked to the QB in widespread — albeit if highly speculative — trade discussions.

“My wild-card pick here is the [Los Angeles] Rams, assuming Matthew Stafford decides to move on (which I’m not reporting, but Stafford is obviously year-to-year at this point of his career),” Graziano wrote on Wednesday, November 13. “Darnold had a nice season with Kyle Shanahan in a backup role in San Francisco last season and has obviously done well with Kevin O’Connell this year, so he knows the basics of the offense Sean McVay runs. And McVay is the kind of coach — like Shanahan and O’Connell — who would design things to make Darnold as comfortable as possible and put him in the best position to succeed.”

The transition from wide receivers Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison to Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua, who represent similar talent, would also make sense after Darnold finally got a taste of elite-level skill position talent in his seventh season.

Sam Darnold’s Play Has Fallen Off Over Past 5 Games

Graziano, like most other top NFL reporters/analysts across the country, added that he doesn’t see Darnold returning in purple and gold next season.

That could have been a more difficult and nuanced discussion, especially considering the recent news of a second knee surgery for injured rookie signal caller J.J. McCarthy earlier this week, if Darnold had continued to play at the high level he exhibited across the first month of the campaign.

However, the New York Jets gave the QB fits in London in Week 5. Minnesota escaped with a victory and headed home to its bye week, but lost the next two games to go from undefeated to second place in the NFC North.

The Vikings got back on the winning track in each of the past two games to move to 7-2, but Darnold has been responsible for 5 interceptions across that stretch and the offense failed to score a touchdown against the Jacksonville Jaguars (who would pick No. 1 if the 2025 draft was today) last weekend.

The positive spin on McCarthy’s second meniscus surgery is that it won’t impact his return timetable, per Kevin Seifert of ESPN. But that’s where the good news/knowns stop.

Darnold was never meant to be a long-term solution, and the Vikings may have given McCarthy a shot or two in real game action over the last couple weeks if he were healthy. As it stands, though, the 21-year-old will likely take his first regular-season snap next year — and there is a reasonable chance he does so as the starter.

That could work out swimmingly, or it could be a nightmare. Regardless, McCarthy’s second season, which will essentially function as his first, is going to have hiccups.

Minnesota captured lightning in a bottle with Darnold, at least for a month, and has been making lemonade ever since as he has regressed back to the mean.

The team will need to find another veteran QB off the scrap heap next offseason if it doesn’t re-sign Darnold, who will probably get a multiyear offer representing an annual pay raise from the $10 million he’s making this season — money that doesn’t make sense for the Vikings to match if McCarthy is their guy.