The Minnesota Vikings are in the midst of an uncertain offseason after losing quarterback Kirk Cousins to the Atlanta Falcons and signing Sam Darnold to a one-year deal to replace him.
Darnold served as the backup to Brock Purdy with the San Francisco 49ers last season and it is unclear how he will be used in Minnesota, though a new report could provide a bit of clarity as to what the future might look like.
ESPN’s Kevin Seifert reported, via Dov Kleiman, that Darnold might be the starter this season and that the Vikings will look to the 2025 draft to find their next franchise quarterback.
The #Vikings will potentially start Sam Darnold next season and look to draft in the 2025 QB Class for a new starter, per @SeifertESPN pic.twitter.com/LRXVUbtosW
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) April 2, 2024
This has all the makings of a smokescreen, so let’s unpack it, shall we?
Minnesota has the 11th and the 23rd picks in the first round of the upcoming draft, and the team has seen its name floated in every trade rumor under the sun in recent weeks as the prime candidate to trade up for a quarterback, perhaps targeting UNC’s Drake Maye, LSU’s Jayden Daniels, or Michigan’s J.J. McCarthy.
This QB class is loaded at the top, with Washington’s Michael Penix Jr. and Oregon’s Bo Nix also in the mix, while the 2025 class as of this moment is seen as a lackluster crop of QBs, thus intensifying the need to find the franchise guy in 2024.
It would make a lot of sense for the Vikings to float a report like this out there to protect their assets and maintain leverage in any potential trade up, as with two first-round picks, any team trading down from the top 5 or 6 will want both assets in a deal.
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