Sam Darnold’s free agency decision was one of the most anticipated moves of the offseason. And now that the Minnesota Vikings star left for the Seattle Seahawks for a whopping $100.5 million, one analyst thinks it’s the best-case scenario for Minnesota.
Darnold signed with the Vikings last season for just $10 million and had mind-boggling stats that helped him raise his value in free agency. However, if the analyst is to be believed, then the Vikings made the right move by not re-signing him.
Is Sam Darnold’s Move a Blessing in Disguise for the Minnesota Vikings?
“Yeah, the fact is this, and they knew this: they weren’t that close with Sam Darnold. Right? I mean, 14… wins and it was a great regular season, but we saw what happened when the games mattered. They toil and then in the playoffs, they didn’t play well at all,” Chris Broussard stated on “First Things First” on Monday.
Darnold had 361 completions for 4,319 yards and 35 touchdowns during the 2024 regular season. He set career highs in every category, which helped him cash in on a major deal today. Nonetheless, Darnold had a disappointing postseason.
“Eighteen points in the last two games combined. They weren’t close. If they had brought back Sam Darnold, I don’t know if anybody would have considered them a strong threat to win the NFC.”
The last two weeks were difficult for Darnold, and Week 18 was his worst performance of the season. Meanwhile, the Wild Card loss to the Los Angeles Rams was his third-worst. Darnold couldn’t deliver when it mattered the most.
Against the Rams in the playoffs, Darnold was sacked nine times, and he had a -0.85 EPA/DB under pressure and -0.02 EPA/DB from the clean pocket.
“So they are going with J.J. McCarthy clearly. They’re not bringing in Aaron Rodgers or anybody like that. They are going with McCarthy, and, you know, they like what they saw from him last year until he got hurt. So, even if they do, they won’t win 14 games. I don’t see that happening. Maybe they’ll make the playoffs, but even if they take a step back, they’ll feel better about their future,” Broussard concluded.
Darnold, after almost six months of endless predictions and countless TV debates among experts, has finally found a new home. Hopefully, Darnold will continue to succeed in Seattle while McCarthy is able to keep Minnesota’s offense humming.