Vikings May Have Already Informed Sam Darnold of Final Decision Regarding Franchise Tag

The Minnesota Vikings have a bunch of decisions to make this offseason, on both sides of the football. While their Sam Darnold conundrum is domino No. 1 that needs pushed over, I’d imagine the Vikings are ready to move onto building up both trenches and deciding who will stay and go from the defensive secondary.

Still, I thought they would find a way to get trade value for their 2024 Pro Bowl quarterback, even if it meant a bit more risk to the start of their offseason. After all, 27-year-old quarterbacks coming off of 4,300 yard, 29 touchdowns (12 interceptions) and a 67% completion rate don’t exactly grow on trees in the NFL.

But according to the most recent reports, following the league gathering last week at the NFL Combine, the Vikings have not been able to find the trade market they were hoping on Darnold. Or at least, that’s what it appears.

Minnesota Vikings have already informed Sam Darnold of franchise tag decision?

And on Monday, Vikings beat reporter Judd Zulgad (SKOR North) is reporting on Purple Daily that he and Darren “Doogie” Wolfson (KSTP) are both hearing the same thing from different sources.

They’re hearing that Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah may have already informed Sam that he will not be tagged before Tuesday’s 3 PM CST deadline. Hat tip to our friends over at The Purple Persuasion, for first finding part of this quote from Judd, and posting it on X.

“The latest word is, and I got a tip on this last night, and I then checked in with our scoop guy, Doogie, who has different sources. And the latest word from both is that the Vikings have either told Sam or have made it very clear they are not going to gag him. I think it’s a lot things.

Like the trade market definitely factors in, but we definitely read that there was also some behind the scenes bristling from the Darnold camp about this because O’Connell had said, you know, that [Sam] deserves to test free agency. And technically, if you franchise tag him and trade him, that’s not it. So it sounds las of right now, like he’s probably going to be allowed to walk.”

Judd Zulgad – Purple Daily (SKOR North)

No excuse if Kwesi fails to tag and trade Darnold

As I on the internet record, the Minnesota Vikings should be able to find a trade partner that is willing to give up a day one or two draft pick next month in order to get exclusive negotiating rights for an MVP caliber quarterback, like Sam Darnold.

If they indeed fail to get it done, that is the latest hit on Kwesi Adofo-Mensah’s reputation as a general manager, which already includes a sub-par (to be kind) draft history and disappointing trade scores. Assuming Judd’s sources are correct, and Darnold is about to walk, we will find out how much he is worth next week, when the free agency negotiation period kicks off on March 10.

Related: Vikings Targeting Top Defensive Tackles in Free Agency and Both Get After QBs

If Darnold ends up receiving multiple years with ~$100 million guaranteed, then it will be very difficult to believe a team wouldn’t have taken the chance to trade for a tagged Sam Darnold, who they could have then negotiated a long-term deal with, without any competition to push that price tag up.