December 30, 2024 • 14 mins
Minnesota Tim discusses the Minnesota Vikings' playoff scenarios and the significant impact of quarterback Sam Darnold on the team's future. He highlights the importance of the upcoming game against the Detroit Lions and delves into Darnold's performance, comparing him to other quarterbacks and evaluating the implications of his potential contract. The conversation also touches on the Vikings' strategy regarding rookie quarterback J.J. McCarthy and the challenges of managing the salary cap while building a competitive team.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
The Minnesota Vikings defeated the Green Bay Packers and advanced
to fourteen and two during the regular season, and now
it is cemented Sunday Night football versus the Detroit Lions
to decide the fate of the number one seed in
the NFC and the fate of the Minnesota Vikings going
(00:30):
into the playoffs. This is from Yahoo Sports NFL Playoff Scenarios.
It says the NFL schedule makers couldn't have dreamed it
up any better in their regular season Sunday Night finale
of Vikings. Victory against the hosting Detroit Lions would deliver
Minnesota the North Divisional title, the number one seed in
(00:52):
the NFC, and home field advantage throughout the conference's postseason play.
A defeat in Motown would lock the Liking Vikings into
the number five wild card seed, which would put them
on the road in Round one.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Their opponents in this scenario would either be the Tampa Bay.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
Buccaneers, Los Angeles Rams, or Atlanta Falcons. So Sunday Night's
game is going to be massive for the Vikings because
you don't want to have to go on the road
and face a Rams team who you already lost to.
This season, or face a Baker Mayfield team or you know,
he's thrown for thirty nine touchdowns this season. To have
(01:32):
home field advantage throughout the playoffs would be huge. And
we'll talk about this game more as it continues to
get closer and after, of course, but I want to
discuss Sam Darnold because he is the topic that keeps
on giving this time of year.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
He comes into the year bridge.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
Guy, one year ten million, and now the conversation has
become a debate because it is not an easy decision
for the Minnesota Vikings anymore, because he's not a bridge
quarterback anymore. The Minnesota Vikings had a plan.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
He was the bridge guy.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
You drafted McCarthy to be the franchise and it all
made sense. It was a healthy plan. It made sense.
But you don't write NFL plans in sharpie. You just don't.
You right them with an eraser.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
Huh. One second, huh. You don't write them with an eraser.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
You write them with a pencil that has an eraser
on the end of it. Because the Minnesota Vikings are
shifting their plan, it is no longer going to be Donald.
It was nice to see you, all right, go somewhere else,
because what he has provided the Minnesota Vikings this season
(03:08):
has been what the Vikings have been looking for and
searching for for a long time, going back to forever ago,
going back to Tavares Jackson and Christian Ponder and Teddy Bridgewater.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
The Minnesota Vikings have been looking.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
For a franchise quarterback to come in, take over the franchise,
control this thing, take the reins and dominate.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
For years and years. They've been looking for it.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
They've borrowed farv, They've borrowed Keenum, and now they've found
it with Sam Darnold. And you look at this situation,
You look at McCarthy and what he could provide.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
You look at what Donald is doing right now.
Speaker 1 (03:55):
Donald has thrown thirty five touchdowns and twelve interceptions this season,
which ranks fourth in the NFL this year. The only
guys that have more passing touchdowns than Donald this season
are Lamar Jackson, Joe Burrow, and Baker Mayfield. That's the list.
(04:16):
That's the list. Donald has more passing touchdowns than Patrick Mahomes,
Josh Allen, Jaden Daniels, Jared Goff, Bo Nicks, Aaron Rodgers,
Matthew Stafford C. J.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
Stroud. Donald has done everything and more.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
That you want to see from an NFL franchise quarterback,
and right now the plan inside the Minnesota Vikings Performance
Center in Egan Tco is changing. It's changing because you
cannot overlook what Donald is doing this season. You know,
(05:02):
maybe at the beginning of the year it's like, Okay,
you know, cool Grete five and oh start he falls
down to earth falls, fat flat on his face. Mid
season a little bit, isn't quite as consistent, doesn't have
his rhythm, isn't looking as good, and just doesn't look
like the same quarterback. But now he's found it and
what he is doing is repeatable. This is not some
(05:26):
fluky stuff because what he's doing is he is seeing
the entire field. He is not just looking at Justin
Jefferson and staring at him and trying to get him
the football. He's looking to Addison and Hockinson and Naylor
and the running backs. Sam Darnald is doing things that
(05:48):
franchise quarterbacks do. And this is not Alex Smith, the
Patrick Mahomes situation. Sam Darnald is not Alex Smith, and
JJ McCarthy is not Patriorck Mahomes. Donald is heads and
shoulders above Alex Smith, and JJ McCarthy is not Patrick Mahomes.
(06:15):
How do I know that, Tim? How do you know
he's not Patrick Mahomes. Who is Patrick Mahomes. There's only
one Patrick Mahomes. Lamar Jackson isn't even Patrick Mahomes is
a good MVP quarterback, great MVP quarterback, but he's not
Patrick Mahomes. So JJ McCarthy is not Patrick Mahomes. And
(06:39):
Sam Darnold is not Alex Smith. Donald is way better.
He's more lethal, he's more accurate.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
He can move.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
Alex Smith can move, but so can Donald. And Donald
has the arm talent of a top five quarterback in
the NFL. Alex Smith didn't have that, and that's that's
why the Chiefs moved off him and put in Patrick
Mahomes as QB one, despite Smith leading the Chiefs to
the playoffs multiple times. What gets brought up in this
(07:13):
conversation is Sam Donald's salary cap hit on the Vikings
organization and what you could do with the amount of
money you would give Donald to the rest of the
Minnesota Vikings organization and roster, because what you don't want
(07:34):
to do is get cap strung by paying Donald all
this money, and then you lose all of your salary
cap flexibility. And that was the plan. Yeah, get all
the salary cap flexibility. You use it to spread the
money around. J. J. McCarthy steps in seamlessly, and the
Minnesota Vikings win and rattle off a bunch of Super
(07:55):
Bowls in a row. But that's changing right in front
of our eyes, because one, we don't know how healthy
JJ McCarthy even is right now. There's no way the
Vikings revealed everything to us in their latest press conference
a few months ago about McCarthy's knee.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
That's a scary situation.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
You're gonna trust the future of your franchise.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
With a rookie quarterback who's.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
Never played an NFL regular season snap, a guy coming
off two knee procedures, a torn meniscus and a cleanup
of the meniscus, and you're just gonna send Sam Darnald
to another organization and you're gonna trust that JJ McCarthy
can take it from here. Is McCarthy telling that the
(08:45):
yes he is. He's drafted top ten for a reason.
But Donald is showing you everything you have looked for
and more in a franchise quarterback. And we're not saying
to get rid of McCarthy. We're not saying shrade him
this offseason, but you have to give Donald one more
run with this Minnesota Vikings organization to prove whether it
(09:08):
was a mirage or that this was something you really
hold on. To give him the one year franchise tag
and run this thing back because thirty five touchdowns, twelve picks,
fourteen and two record, You've got to do it. And
(09:30):
it's not like Donald is just a passenger on the
Viking ship.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
He's controlling the whole thing.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
He's the one that's getting Jefferson and Addison and Hockinson going.
He's the one that's moving the Vikings offense. He's not
reliant on an elite level back like Saquon Barkley or
an Adrian Peterson back in the day to carry the
Vikings offense. Darnald is the captain. He's not the passenger
(09:58):
on this freight train. He is the beast that is
stirring the drink and he is doing everything for the
Minnesota Vikings offense right now, and he is making this
thing go now.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
Going back to the salary cap.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
Situation, the free agents you can sign with the amount
of money you would give Donald, and you know there's
that drop of how far is the drop of from
Donald to McCarthy And if you add these free agents,
does that, you know, equal the same level play? You
got a guy in a rookie quarterback contract. All those
(10:36):
things are attractive things, and especially you look at the
Vikings free agency class this past offseason, Cashman Grenard Van Ginkel,
Gilmore Griffin, all defensive guys that have added so much
to the organization. But you bring in a DJ Reid
(10:56):
or you bring in some cornerback from another team this
off season, you pay him all the money that he's
gonna want whatever that looks like. There's no guarantee that
he's gonna come in and be the superstar cornerback that
he was on his previous team for the Vikings. You
see it all the time in the NFL, where guys
are superstars other places, they come to another team and
(11:19):
then they stink. There are tons and tons of free
agency bus every year, and there's no guaranteeing that. Just
because you let Donald walk and he use his money
to pay a cornerback or a safety or whatever it is,
that you're going to be just as good next year
(11:40):
because you use the free agency money to add depth
and add players in free agency. So it's not like
there's this guarantee that you're gonna bring in these valuable
players with Donald's contract. When Donald's contract is right there
or his play is right there, and he's showing the
entire world that this guy can play, and Donald has
(12:06):
loved within the Vikings locker room. Did you see the
video following the Vikings win versus the Packers if you
hadn't watched it right now, you think that's a guy
(12:48):
that wants to leave after being in a situation like
the Jets and the Panthers for the first five six
years of his career. He wants to stay and could
he get bigger contract somewhere else, Yes, I'm sure he could.
But the Vikings and Donald should agree.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
To mutually sign a two to three.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
Year contract extension or whatever the case may be and
make something happen. I guess there's the possibility that Donald
just wants to splash this offseason and go to a
another football team, maybe the forty nine ers, and you know,
make as much money as he can there as he
(13:33):
would anywhere else. But the more I let this situation
play out, and the more I see this situation play out,
the Minnesota Vikings and Sam Darnald should agree this offseason
to run this thing back.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
How can you not.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
With Brett Favre OH nine, we all wanted to run
it back. Arnold is outperforming far in O nine. How
can you not run this back? How can you not
let this thing play out? The Minnesota Vikings organization had
a plan, and it was healthy to have a plan.
But this plans a changing and it should because of
(14:19):
what Darnold has presented and provided the Minnesota Vikings this season.
Thank you for watching and thank you for listening. Thanks
for going on this journey with me. Hit that subscribe
button wherever you are watching, or you're watching on YouTube,
but hit that subscribe button wherever you're listening. And I
appreciate you making this podcast a part of your day.
The Minnesota Vikings defeated the Green Bay Packers and advanced
to fourteen and two during the regular season, and now
it is cemented Sunday Night football versus the Detroit Lions
to decide the fate of the number one seed in
the NFC and the fate of the Minnesota Vikings going
(00:30):
into the playoffs. This is from Yahoo Sports NFL Playoff Scenarios.
It says the NFL schedule makers couldn't have dreamed it
up any better in their regular season Sunday Night finale
of Vikings. Victory against the hosting Detroit Lions would deliver
Minnesota the North Divisional title, the number one seed in
(00:52):
the NFC, and home field advantage throughout the conference's postseason play.
A defeat in Motown would lock the Liking Vikings into
the number five wild card seed, which would put them
on the road in Round one.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Their opponents in this scenario would either be the Tampa Bay.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
Buccaneers, Los Angeles Rams, or Atlanta Falcons. So Sunday Night's
game is going to be massive for the Vikings because
you don't want to have to go on the road
and face a Rams team who you already lost to.
This season, or face a Baker Mayfield team or you know,
he's thrown for thirty nine touchdowns this season. To have
(01:32):
home field advantage throughout the playoffs would be huge. And
we'll talk about this game more as it continues to
get closer and after, of course, but I want to
discuss Sam Darnold because he is the topic that keeps
on giving this time of year.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
He comes into the year bridge.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
Guy, one year ten million, and now the conversation has
become a debate because it is not an easy decision
for the Minnesota Vikings anymore, because he's not a bridge
quarterback anymore. The Minnesota Vikings had a plan.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
He was the bridge guy.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
You drafted McCarthy to be the franchise and it all
made sense. It was a healthy plan. It made sense.
But you don't write NFL plans in sharpie. You just don't.
You right them with an eraser.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
Huh. One second, huh. You don't write them with an eraser.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
You write them with a pencil that has an eraser
on the end of it. Because the Minnesota Vikings are
shifting their plan, it is no longer going to be Donald.
It was nice to see you, all right, go somewhere else,
because what he has provided the Minnesota Vikings this season
(03:08):
has been what the Vikings have been looking for and
searching for for a long time, going back to forever ago,
going back to Tavares Jackson and Christian Ponder and Teddy Bridgewater.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
The Minnesota Vikings have been looking.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
For a franchise quarterback to come in, take over the franchise,
control this thing, take the reins and dominate.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
For years and years. They've been looking for it.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
They've borrowed farv, They've borrowed Keenum, and now they've found
it with Sam Darnold. And you look at this situation,
You look at McCarthy and what he could provide.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
You look at what Donald is doing right now.
Speaker 1 (03:55):
Donald has thrown thirty five touchdowns and twelve interceptions this season,
which ranks fourth in the NFL this year. The only
guys that have more passing touchdowns than Donald this season
are Lamar Jackson, Joe Burrow, and Baker Mayfield. That's the list.
(04:16):
That's the list. Donald has more passing touchdowns than Patrick Mahomes,
Josh Allen, Jaden Daniels, Jared Goff, Bo Nicks, Aaron Rodgers,
Matthew Stafford C. J.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
Stroud. Donald has done everything and more.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
That you want to see from an NFL franchise quarterback,
and right now the plan inside the Minnesota Vikings Performance
Center in Egan Tco is changing. It's changing because you
cannot overlook what Donald is doing this season. You know,
(05:02):
maybe at the beginning of the year it's like, Okay,
you know, cool Grete five and oh start he falls
down to earth falls, fat flat on his face. Mid
season a little bit, isn't quite as consistent, doesn't have
his rhythm, isn't looking as good, and just doesn't look
like the same quarterback. But now he's found it and
what he is doing is repeatable. This is not some
(05:26):
fluky stuff because what he's doing is he is seeing
the entire field. He is not just looking at Justin
Jefferson and staring at him and trying to get him
the football. He's looking to Addison and Hockinson and Naylor
and the running backs. Sam Darnald is doing things that
(05:48):
franchise quarterbacks do. And this is not Alex Smith, the
Patrick Mahomes situation. Sam Darnald is not Alex Smith, and
JJ McCarthy is not Patriorck Mahomes. Donald is heads and
shoulders above Alex Smith, and JJ McCarthy is not Patrick Mahomes.
(06:15):
How do I know that, Tim? How do you know
he's not Patrick Mahomes. Who is Patrick Mahomes. There's only
one Patrick Mahomes. Lamar Jackson isn't even Patrick Mahomes is
a good MVP quarterback, great MVP quarterback, but he's not
Patrick Mahomes. So JJ McCarthy is not Patrick Mahomes. And
(06:39):
Sam Darnold is not Alex Smith. Donald is way better.
He's more lethal, he's more accurate.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
He can move.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
Alex Smith can move, but so can Donald. And Donald
has the arm talent of a top five quarterback in
the NFL. Alex Smith didn't have that, and that's that's
why the Chiefs moved off him and put in Patrick
Mahomes as QB one, despite Smith leading the Chiefs to
the playoffs multiple times. What gets brought up in this
(07:13):
conversation is Sam Donald's salary cap hit on the Vikings
organization and what you could do with the amount of
money you would give Donald to the rest of the
Minnesota Vikings organization and roster, because what you don't want
(07:34):
to do is get cap strung by paying Donald all
this money, and then you lose all of your salary
cap flexibility. And that was the plan. Yeah, get all
the salary cap flexibility. You use it to spread the
money around. J. J. McCarthy steps in seamlessly, and the
Minnesota Vikings win and rattle off a bunch of Super
(07:55):
Bowls in a row. But that's changing right in front
of our eyes, because one, we don't know how healthy
JJ McCarthy even is right now. There's no way the
Vikings revealed everything to us in their latest press conference
a few months ago about McCarthy's knee.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
That's a scary situation.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
You're gonna trust the future of your franchise.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
With a rookie quarterback who's.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
Never played an NFL regular season snap, a guy coming
off two knee procedures, a torn meniscus and a cleanup
of the meniscus, and you're just gonna send Sam Darnald
to another organization and you're gonna trust that JJ McCarthy
can take it from here. Is McCarthy telling that the
(08:45):
yes he is. He's drafted top ten for a reason.
But Donald is showing you everything you have looked for
and more in a franchise quarterback. And we're not saying
to get rid of McCarthy. We're not saying shrade him
this offseason, but you have to give Donald one more
run with this Minnesota Vikings organization to prove whether it
(09:08):
was a mirage or that this was something you really
hold on. To give him the one year franchise tag
and run this thing back because thirty five touchdowns, twelve picks,
fourteen and two record, You've got to do it. And
(09:30):
it's not like Donald is just a passenger on the
Viking ship.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
He's controlling the whole thing.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
He's the one that's getting Jefferson and Addison and Hockinson going.
He's the one that's moving the Vikings offense. He's not
reliant on an elite level back like Saquon Barkley or
an Adrian Peterson back in the day to carry the
Vikings offense. Darnald is the captain. He's not the passenger
(09:58):
on this freight train. He is the beast that is
stirring the drink and he is doing everything for the
Minnesota Vikings offense right now, and he is making this
thing go now.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
Going back to the salary cap.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
Situation, the free agents you can sign with the amount
of money you would give Donald, and you know there's
that drop of how far is the drop of from
Donald to McCarthy And if you add these free agents,
does that, you know, equal the same level play? You
got a guy in a rookie quarterback contract. All those
(10:36):
things are attractive things, and especially you look at the
Vikings free agency class this past offseason, Cashman Grenard Van Ginkel,
Gilmore Griffin, all defensive guys that have added so much
to the organization. But you bring in a DJ Reid
(10:56):
or you bring in some cornerback from another team this
off season, you pay him all the money that he's
gonna want whatever that looks like. There's no guarantee that
he's gonna come in and be the superstar cornerback that
he was on his previous team for the Vikings. You
see it all the time in the NFL, where guys
are superstars other places, they come to another team and
(11:19):
then they stink. There are tons and tons of free
agency bus every year, and there's no guaranteeing that. Just
because you let Donald walk and he use his money
to pay a cornerback or a safety or whatever it is,
that you're going to be just as good next year
(11:40):
because you use the free agency money to add depth
and add players in free agency. So it's not like
there's this guarantee that you're gonna bring in these valuable
players with Donald's contract. When Donald's contract is right there
or his play is right there, and he's showing the
entire world that this guy can play, and Donald has
(12:06):
loved within the Vikings locker room. Did you see the
video following the Vikings win versus the Packers if you
hadn't watched it right now, you think that's a guy
(12:48):
that wants to leave after being in a situation like
the Jets and the Panthers for the first five six
years of his career. He wants to stay and could
he get bigger contract somewhere else, Yes, I'm sure he could.
But the Vikings and Donald should agree.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
To mutually sign a two to three.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
Year contract extension or whatever the case may be and
make something happen. I guess there's the possibility that Donald
just wants to splash this offseason and go to a
another football team, maybe the forty nine ers, and you know,
make as much money as he can there as he
(13:33):
would anywhere else. But the more I let this situation
play out, and the more I see this situation play out,
the Minnesota Vikings and Sam Darnald should agree this offseason
to run this thing back.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
How can you not.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
With Brett Favre OH nine, we all wanted to run
it back. Arnold is outperforming far in O nine. How
can you not run this back? How can you not
let this thing play out? The Minnesota Vikings organization had
a plan, and it was healthy to have a plan.
But this plans a changing and it should because of
(14:19):
what Darnold has presented and provided the Minnesota Vikings this season.
Thank you for watching and thank you for listening. Thanks
for going on this journey with me. Hit that subscribe
button wherever you are watching, or you're watching on YouTube,
but hit that subscribe button wherever you're listening. And I
appreciate you making this podcast a part of your day.
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