December 11, 2024 • 11 mins
This conversation delves into the future of the Minnesota Vikings quarterback position, focusing on Sam Darnold and the implications of salary cap flexibility. The discussion highlights insights from insiders and the strategic decisions being made by the organization regarding their roster and future plans.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
All the conversation this week has been surrounding the future
of Sam Donald and the future of the quarterback position
on the Minnesota Vikings. I'm on record saying yesterday that
there is no chance the Vikings bring back Sam Donald
for this reason and this reason only. They let Kirk
(00:28):
Cousins walk to have salary cap flexibility, and they drafted
JJ McCarthy to create that salary cap flexibility. The idea
of having a rookie quarterback on a rookie scaled contract
and being able to sign those players around him is
the Minnesota Vikings plan. And now that you're seeing more
(00:53):
conversation happen about it, you can start to get a
feel and a pulse of what not only a opinionated
people are saying, like myself and I'm just coming with
objective opinions. But the more you see from insiders that
cover the Minnesota Vikings, the people that are around the organization,
(01:15):
you hear what the organization is saying. Because I try
to limit the amount of opinions people say because that's
not an accurate representation of what it's true. I've reacted
a few call on coward stephen A. Smith things because
(01:35):
they're a big name, and if you have a big name,
to be honest, you put that on the podcast and
it's going to get a ton of listens. But now
that we have a full pulse, a full idea of
what insiders on the Minnesota Vikings are saying, we can
now react and judge with some idea of what is
going to happen. So Ben Gesling, he's an insider on
(01:58):
the Star Tribune. He was on k Fan recently and
he was on Paul Allen's show nine to noon, and
this is what he had to say about the situation.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Yep, I think the reason for the the this not
being that difficult. It's tricky because if Donald goes and
plays at an MVP level and wins a Super Bowl, ye,
I think that changes things a little bit. But it
is tough with the financial situation because they are set
up in a way that is reflecting that they expect
to have a quarterback playing at a fairly cheap salary.
(02:33):
When you pay Jefson Jefferson like a quarterback when you
have the money that they do. They signed Darrisaw, They've
signed Hockinson. Obviously, there are a lot of these long
term contracts and I think they're probably going to be
more coming Byron Murphy. I wrote about this today. I
think is a pretty big priority to bring back and
that will not be cheap either. But you have got
(02:54):
thirty six free agents in March. Yeah, jeez, it's a lot.
I mean, can think about it one Yeah, mostly think
about all the guys on one year deals. I mean,
Gilmore Murphy's a free agent, that's Voyd Year, Aaron Jones, Darnold. Obviously,
you can keep going down the line. Some of the
role players, Jihad Ward, Grew, Jay Hill, all these guys
are free agents, so you have to make some decisions
(03:16):
on some of those guys. You have to filt the
roster with not a ton of draft picks because you
don't have draft picks to do some of that replenishing. Yeah,
so there's a lot of that stuff, And I think
the way this sets up, they are it just looks
like they're constructing themselves around the idea that they're not
going to have a big bill at quarterback for a while.
There's maybe a way to do it, but I think
(03:37):
first round picks at quarterback typically play. And I think
they were excited enough about McCarthy that I mean, it's
a weird situation. It's a little bit like twenty eighteen,
where you go on and run with a guy that
you're not expecting to be the long term solution, sorry
twenty seventeen, getting into twenty eighteen, and then what do
you do. But I think the fact that McCarthy comes
with the cheap bill and the fact that they're excited
(03:59):
enough about him, I think it's going to be him.
I think that's part of the reason Daniel Jones is here.
It sounds like you're trying to talk yourself into this.
I'm trying to talk listeners into saying this is not
as crazy as it may seem. Given the way that
Donald is playing. I just think that's why they're set up.
But that's true.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
All those things are fact, and those are the things
that you know, people with understandable and knowledgeable brains understand.
You look at what the Minnesota Vikings want, what they created,
what they got out of when they became a part
of the organization. I'm referring to quesci Adolfo Mensa. What
did he get out of when he inherited the organization?
(04:41):
What did he start with? He started with salary cap crap,
not much ability to create the roster that he wanted.
So the last thing he is going to do is
create a situation that's exactly like that. So there's no
chance Sam Darnald is coming back. And you know what
was interesting Wes Phillips, the Minnesota Vikings offensive coordinator who
(05:05):
doesn't call plays, but is the offensive coordinator. It helps
probably create the game plan and talk to players. Who
knows what those guys do. Kevin o'call had that role
with the Los Angeles Rams before he became the head
coach on the Minnesota Vikings. I'd be curious to see
what their role is when they're not calling plays. But
Wes Phillips shared some interesting information in his recent press conference.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
He's like not thinking at all about how this season
could affect his future and affect, you know, his long
term goals, you know, whatever they might be.
Speaker 4 (05:43):
Well, you'd have to ask Sam that, but you know,
in my mind, I would hope he would kind of say, Hey,
the body of work that I've put in so far
is going to take care of the future. So really
all I need to worry about is right now. You know,
I think we all know that you know, Sam is
gonna gonna be uh sought after type of type of
(06:06):
guy from wherever that may be. So you know, whatever
his future ends up being is is is. I know
all of us in this building are gonna be happy
for him, no matter no matter where that ends up being.
So I don't think he has to worry about that anymore.
I think the worry might have been, Okay, this is
(06:27):
my opportunity to play. Right, He's past all that, he's
proven the doubters, and he's proven that he can play
in this league.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
That is the most honest you'll ever hear an employee
on the Minnesota Vikings organization because you think about what
he does said, he's like, he's gonna find somewhere else.
Is you gonna be coveted and we're happy to have him?
Blah blah blah, yeahda yadda. Wes Phillips just gave a
very honest press conference, something that you never see from
(06:58):
the O'Connell's or the Ques the world. So he just
said what everybody knows and what everybody's thinking, including Sam
Darnold and his agent. He's going to be a coveted
player and he's proven that he should be a coveted
player this season, So he's going to be a coveted
player this offseason. Ben Leeber, the sideline reporter on the
(07:19):
Vikings Entertainment Network for games. He's got a few in
the locker room, and he was on Dan Barrero's show
the other day.
Speaker 5 (07:27):
He had this to say, Well, how about franchising. You're
iways told you're even against the concept of franchising. Is
that true? Yeah, I'm I'm against that in this situation. Look, man,
I think the Handshaker agreement was done.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
You know last.
Speaker 5 (07:41):
Offseason they knew he knew what the Vikings intentions were.
He knew the whole time. They're like, look, I'm a
I'm a potential bridge quarterback, and potential meaning that he
didn't know if he was going to beat out McCarthy
or whoever they drafted. He knew he was just a
one a one stop guy that was hopefully going to
get better under the tutelage of koc in the system
(08:03):
in West Phillips and all this other stuff. To go
out there, and he goes out and proves it in
a one year deal, and you want to handcuff him
now and use him as a financial pawns. I don't think.
I just don't think it feels dirty to me, and
I don't feel like the Vikings organization would do him
(08:25):
dirty like that, like thank him for everything he's done.
Let let the little birdie go out there and make
a bunch of money because he's earned it.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
So Sam Darnold understands the role he was playing on
the Minnesota Vikings this year. He was that one stop,
step stop guy for JJ McCarthy, and Ben Leeber knows it,
he sees it, and he calls it like it is.
And the Minnesota Vikings are probably not going to franchise
(08:53):
take him because why would we franchise take him and
then just trade him to another organization who's got on
one year. I just don't think that's a realistic option either.
So Sam Darnald knows his role. JJ McCarthy understands the situation.
Ben Lieber sees it. Sam Darnald is not coming back
next year. And this is why Daniel Jones signed with
(09:15):
the Minnesota Vikings because he saw the success from Sam
Darnald in a season and is thinking, you know what,
maybe I can do that in six or seven or
eight games, be the backup on the Minnesota Vikings hit
the free agent market and tell teams that I learned
so much under Kevin O'Connell and the Vikings organization, and
(09:38):
I'm so much further than my progress was with the
Minnesota with the New York Giants. So it's all a
part of the plan, and there's really nothing shocking about
what anybody is saying. It's just that we need to
come to grips with the realistic possibility, really the only
(10:00):
possibility that Sam Darnold will not be the Minnesota Vikings
quarterback next year because he wants the big splash, and
the Minnesota Vikings want to keep their salary cap flexibility
that they worked so hard to get. That's the key.
It would be one thing if they inherited a rookie quarterback,
(10:22):
it didn't work, and they want to try this route.
Speaker 3 (10:26):
But now.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
The realistic scenario is is that they inherited salary cap
crap and are trying to create their salary cap flexibility
so that they can do what they want to do
in free agency and bring in guys and do these things.
Especially because they traded multiple mid round picks in the future,
(10:50):
they still have their first round pick next year, but
they traded away multiple mid round picks, and when you
do that, you got to create roster reconstruction somehow or construction,
and you do that by drafting players. But you can't
draft players. You got to sign them in free agency
because they traded their mid round picks. So it's all
(11:11):
a part of the plan and there's really nothing surprising
or shocking about any of it. Thank you for going
on this journey with me. Hit that subscribe button right there,
and thank you for making this podcast a part of
your day.
All the conversation this week has been surrounding the future
of Sam Donald and the future of the quarterback position
on the Minnesota Vikings. I'm on record saying yesterday that
there is no chance the Vikings bring back Sam Donald
for this reason and this reason only. They let Kirk
(00:28):
Cousins walk to have salary cap flexibility, and they drafted
JJ McCarthy to create that salary cap flexibility. The idea
of having a rookie quarterback on a rookie scaled contract
and being able to sign those players around him is
the Minnesota Vikings plan. And now that you're seeing more
(00:53):
conversation happen about it, you can start to get a
feel and a pulse of what not only a opinionated
people are saying, like myself and I'm just coming with
objective opinions. But the more you see from insiders that
cover the Minnesota Vikings, the people that are around the organization,
(01:15):
you hear what the organization is saying. Because I try
to limit the amount of opinions people say because that's
not an accurate representation of what it's true. I've reacted
a few call on coward stephen A. Smith things because
(01:35):
they're a big name, and if you have a big name,
to be honest, you put that on the podcast and
it's going to get a ton of listens. But now
that we have a full pulse, a full idea of
what insiders on the Minnesota Vikings are saying, we can
now react and judge with some idea of what is
going to happen. So Ben Gesling, he's an insider on
(01:58):
the Star Tribune. He was on k Fan recently and
he was on Paul Allen's show nine to noon, and
this is what he had to say about the situation.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Yep, I think the reason for the the this not
being that difficult. It's tricky because if Donald goes and
plays at an MVP level and wins a Super Bowl, ye,
I think that changes things a little bit. But it
is tough with the financial situation because they are set
up in a way that is reflecting that they expect
to have a quarterback playing at a fairly cheap salary.
(02:33):
When you pay Jefson Jefferson like a quarterback when you
have the money that they do. They signed Darrisaw, They've
signed Hockinson. Obviously, there are a lot of these long
term contracts and I think they're probably going to be
more coming Byron Murphy. I wrote about this today. I
think is a pretty big priority to bring back and
that will not be cheap either. But you have got
(02:54):
thirty six free agents in March. Yeah, jeez, it's a lot.
I mean, can think about it one Yeah, mostly think
about all the guys on one year deals. I mean,
Gilmore Murphy's a free agent, that's Voyd Year, Aaron Jones, Darnold. Obviously,
you can keep going down the line. Some of the
role players, Jihad Ward, Grew, Jay Hill, all these guys
are free agents, so you have to make some decisions
(03:16):
on some of those guys. You have to filt the
roster with not a ton of draft picks because you
don't have draft picks to do some of that replenishing. Yeah,
so there's a lot of that stuff, And I think
the way this sets up, they are it just looks
like they're constructing themselves around the idea that they're not
going to have a big bill at quarterback for a while.
There's maybe a way to do it, but I think
(03:37):
first round picks at quarterback typically play. And I think
they were excited enough about McCarthy that I mean, it's
a weird situation. It's a little bit like twenty eighteen,
where you go on and run with a guy that
you're not expecting to be the long term solution, sorry
twenty seventeen, getting into twenty eighteen, and then what do
you do. But I think the fact that McCarthy comes
with the cheap bill and the fact that they're excited
(03:59):
enough about him, I think it's going to be him.
I think that's part of the reason Daniel Jones is here.
It sounds like you're trying to talk yourself into this.
I'm trying to talk listeners into saying this is not
as crazy as it may seem. Given the way that
Donald is playing. I just think that's why they're set up.
But that's true.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
All those things are fact, and those are the things
that you know, people with understandable and knowledgeable brains understand.
You look at what the Minnesota Vikings want, what they created,
what they got out of when they became a part
of the organization. I'm referring to quesci Adolfo Mensa. What
did he get out of when he inherited the organization?
(04:41):
What did he start with? He started with salary cap crap,
not much ability to create the roster that he wanted.
So the last thing he is going to do is
create a situation that's exactly like that. So there's no
chance Sam Darnald is coming back. And you know what
was interesting Wes Phillips, the Minnesota Vikings offensive coordinator who
(05:05):
doesn't call plays, but is the offensive coordinator. It helps
probably create the game plan and talk to players. Who
knows what those guys do. Kevin o'call had that role
with the Los Angeles Rams before he became the head
coach on the Minnesota Vikings. I'd be curious to see
what their role is when they're not calling plays. But
Wes Phillips shared some interesting information in his recent press conference.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
He's like not thinking at all about how this season
could affect his future and affect, you know, his long
term goals, you know, whatever they might be.
Speaker 4 (05:43):
Well, you'd have to ask Sam that, but you know,
in my mind, I would hope he would kind of say, Hey,
the body of work that I've put in so far
is going to take care of the future. So really
all I need to worry about is right now. You know,
I think we all know that you know, Sam is
gonna gonna be uh sought after type of type of
(06:06):
guy from wherever that may be. So you know, whatever
his future ends up being is is is. I know
all of us in this building are gonna be happy
for him, no matter no matter where that ends up being.
So I don't think he has to worry about that anymore.
I think the worry might have been, Okay, this is
(06:27):
my opportunity to play. Right, He's past all that, he's
proven the doubters, and he's proven that he can play
in this league.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
That is the most honest you'll ever hear an employee
on the Minnesota Vikings organization because you think about what
he does said, he's like, he's gonna find somewhere else.
Is you gonna be coveted and we're happy to have him?
Blah blah blah, yeahda yadda. Wes Phillips just gave a
very honest press conference, something that you never see from
(06:58):
the O'Connell's or the Ques the world. So he just
said what everybody knows and what everybody's thinking, including Sam
Darnold and his agent. He's going to be a coveted
player and he's proven that he should be a coveted
player this season, So he's going to be a coveted
player this offseason. Ben Leeber, the sideline reporter on the
(07:19):
Vikings Entertainment Network for games. He's got a few in
the locker room, and he was on Dan Barrero's show
the other day.
Speaker 5 (07:27):
He had this to say, Well, how about franchising. You're
iways told you're even against the concept of franchising. Is
that true? Yeah, I'm I'm against that in this situation. Look, man,
I think the Handshaker agreement was done.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
You know last.
Speaker 5 (07:41):
Offseason they knew he knew what the Vikings intentions were.
He knew the whole time. They're like, look, I'm a
I'm a potential bridge quarterback, and potential meaning that he
didn't know if he was going to beat out McCarthy
or whoever they drafted. He knew he was just a
one a one stop guy that was hopefully going to
get better under the tutelage of koc in the system
(08:03):
in West Phillips and all this other stuff. To go
out there, and he goes out and proves it in
a one year deal, and you want to handcuff him
now and use him as a financial pawns. I don't think.
I just don't think it feels dirty to me, and
I don't feel like the Vikings organization would do him
(08:25):
dirty like that, like thank him for everything he's done.
Let let the little birdie go out there and make
a bunch of money because he's earned it.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
So Sam Darnold understands the role he was playing on
the Minnesota Vikings this year. He was that one stop,
step stop guy for JJ McCarthy, and Ben Leeber knows it,
he sees it, and he calls it like it is.
And the Minnesota Vikings are probably not going to franchise
(08:53):
take him because why would we franchise take him and
then just trade him to another organization who's got on
one year. I just don't think that's a realistic option either.
So Sam Darnald knows his role. JJ McCarthy understands the situation.
Ben Lieber sees it. Sam Darnald is not coming back
next year. And this is why Daniel Jones signed with
(09:15):
the Minnesota Vikings because he saw the success from Sam
Darnald in a season and is thinking, you know what,
maybe I can do that in six or seven or
eight games, be the backup on the Minnesota Vikings hit
the free agent market and tell teams that I learned
so much under Kevin O'Connell and the Vikings organization, and
(09:38):
I'm so much further than my progress was with the
Minnesota with the New York Giants. So it's all a
part of the plan, and there's really nothing shocking about
what anybody is saying. It's just that we need to
come to grips with the realistic possibility, really the only
(10:00):
possibility that Sam Darnold will not be the Minnesota Vikings
quarterback next year because he wants the big splash, and
the Minnesota Vikings want to keep their salary cap flexibility
that they worked so hard to get. That's the key.
It would be one thing if they inherited a rookie quarterback,
(10:22):
it didn't work, and they want to try this route.
Speaker 3 (10:26):
But now.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
The realistic scenario is is that they inherited salary cap
crap and are trying to create their salary cap flexibility
so that they can do what they want to do
in free agency and bring in guys and do these things.
Especially because they traded multiple mid round picks in the future,
(10:50):
they still have their first round pick next year, but
they traded away multiple mid round picks, and when you
do that, you got to create roster reconstruction somehow or construction,
and you do that by drafting players. But you can't
draft players. You got to sign them in free agency
because they traded their mid round picks. So it's all
(11:11):
a part of the plan and there's really nothing surprising
or shocking about any of it. Thank you for going
on this journey with me. Hit that subscribe button right there,
and thank you for making this podcast a part of
your day.
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