The Minnesota Vikings went out with a whimper on a Monday night, and in the process, Sam Darnold may have cost himself any shot to return as the club’s unquestioned starting quarterback. A pleasant surprise for much of an explosive 2024 campaign, the journeyman utterly crashed at the finish line, leaving the Vikings with consecutive high-stakes duds before an inevitable trip to free agency in the spring.
Could Darnold return on another team-friendly prove-it deal, with first-round rookie J.J. McCarthy still recovering from multiple knee surgeries? It’s possible. It’s just as, if not more, likely that Vikings brass will say, “Thanks, but no thanks,” weighing Darnold’s finish more than his 14-3 regular-season record. They let a more established Kirk Cousins walk the year prior, after all, and made a premium investment in McCarthy.
In the event Darnold signs elsewhere, however, the Vikings will almost assuredly pursue some form of cheaper insurance for McCarthy. Darnold served that role in 2024, and just so happened to seize the moment, exceeding expectations until the very end. So which names could be on their radar? Here are a few candidates to join the ship as 2025 flyers, either in competition with McCarthy or as fallback options:
The Vikings originally added Darnold after he spent a year learning under Kyle Shanahan with the San Francisco 49ers. Garoppolo once went to two NFC title games as Shanahan’s point guard, and just spent 2024 backing up Matthew Stafford for O’Connell’s old boss, Sean McVay. At 33 with a checkered injury history, Garoppolo knows his place as a No. 2, and he also has ties to Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, who worked in the 49ers front office when Garoppolo helped the team to a Super Bowl bid. He’s a prototypically solid, if unspectacular, pocket passer with at least a big-game resume.
The former New York Giants starter didn’t take a single snap with the Vikings after joining the club’s practice squad in November. But he got in the building and made connections, and like Darnold before him, he’s both experienced (69 career starts) and young enough (27) to be molded by O’Connell. Jones has never flashed elite downfield passing ability, but his mobility and short-area touch helped the Giants upset Minnesota in the playoffs back in 2022. He might prefer to just stay put in a winning organization, knowing there’s a pathway to a top gig.
Lance reportedly had the Vikings’ interest ahead of Cousins’ final year in town, even prompting Minnesota to check in with the 49ers about his availability. Since then, the former first-rounder hasn’t exactly boosted his stock, appearing in just five games as the Dallas Cowboys’ No. 3 quarterback. The NDSU product is about as much of an unknown as McCarthy, even four years into his NFL career. But he’s still just 24, knows the area as a Minnesota native, and offers tantalizing athleticism.
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