For months, all indicators have pointed to Sam Darnold opening 2024 because the Minnesota Vikings’ beginning quarterback. That stays the case with Minnesota set to kick off coaching camp, in accordance with ESPN, and never solely that, however Vikings brass hopes the veteran will follow in the footsteps of one other particular signal-caller.
“They believe there’s untapped potential here,” Jeremy Fowler reported of the Vikings’ perception in Darnold. “He’s never quite had a supporting cast like this. … They’re hoping maybe he can have a Geno Smith-type impact [like] in Seattle, that second act, where he had a good next career arc.”
Smith, of course, spent most of his NFL profession as a backup after flaming out with the New York Jets, solely to burst again onto the scene because the Seahawks’ starter in 2022, when he threw a career-high 30 touchdowns and earned a multi-year contract extension. Darnold, who’s nonetheless simply 27, is on his fourth workforce in 5 years, recent off a one-year cease with the San Francisco 49ers, for whom he served as Brock Purdy’s backup.
As for J.J. McCarthy, the Vikings’ first-round draft choose at quarterback, Minnesota “has a plan” for the Michigan product, per Fowler: “When he’s ready to play, he’ll play.” There’s merely no rush to get the rookie beneath heart, as coach Kevin O’Connell has confirmed since welcoming McCarthy to the NFL, with the Vikings preferring to patiently combine the teenager fairly than begin him out of necessity.
