Is there fire with all this smoke?
The deadline for teams to place franchise or transition player tags on pending free agents is this coming Tuesday at 3:00 PM Central time. While the Minnesota Vikings have not made any public indication that they might use the tag on quarterback Sam Darnold, there is a team out there that is reportedly interested in acquiring Darnold’s services. . .if the rumors are to be believed.
According to longtime NFL insider Tony Pauline, the Las Vegas Raiders could be interested in bringing Darnold aboard, particularly after Matthew Stafford chose to re-do his deal with the Los Angeles Rams. Per Pauline, sources “close to Darnold” that the Raiders and their new head coach, Pete Carroll, will attempt to make a move to acquire Darnold from the Vikings before he hits free agency.
Now, again, we’re into “silly season” in the National Football League, so take this with as much salt as you can handle without spiking your blood pressure. But if the Vikings, who currently have just four picks in the upcoming NFL Draft, want to try to get something for Darnold this year rather than wait for a 2026 compensatory third-round pick, it might behoove them to try to work something out with the Raiders or another club.
Darnold is considered to be, by far, the best quarterback available in free agency this year. With most experts being pretty low on this year’s quarterback class from a draft perspective, it might be an opportunity for the Vikings to get something for Darnold if they can find a quarterback-needy team to make a deal with them.
Do you think that the Vikings can get something done with another team to move Sam Darnold ahead of the start of free agency? Do you want them to go that route?
