Category: Commentary

Salary cap implications complicate Sam Darnold being a Viking in 2025

The voice of the Vikings, Paul Allen doesn’t see Darnold back in Minnesota next season.

Plenty of Viking fans are left scratching their head following Sam Darnold’s three-interception performance on Sunday against the Jaguars. Minnesota got the job done and won 12-7 against Jacksonville, but Darnold arguably played his worst Viking game.

Darnold is tied with Geno Smith and Jordan Love for last in the league with 10 interceptions thrown. There was a reason the Vikings drafted Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy to become their new franchise quarterback, and even if Darnold can get back on track, it’s unlikely he will be in Minnesota after this year.

What Allen eludes to is the main issue with Darnold returning to the Vikings in 2025. It has nothing to do with his play but rather with the salary cap implications. Darnold is likely to get a contract earning between $20-$30 million a year from a team needing a quality starter, which Darnold has proven to be.

“I mean, if Sam Darnold wins the Super Bowl as quarterback of the Minnesota Vikings, he’s not getting 100 million guaranteed here,” Paul Allen said on KFAN1003. “He’s not, because Kwesi in that group has worked so hard for two and a half years to get salary cap flexibility. And in essence, jettison picks in certain parts of the draft to get Greenard, to get Van Ginkel, to get Cashman.”

The Vikings and Kwesi Adofo-Mensah are in prime posit[anyclip-media thumbnail=”undefined” playlistId=”undefined” content=”dW5kZWZpbmVk”][/anyclip-media]ion to make a splash in free agency, with a projected $76 million available to them. That will allow them to re-sign and extend some core players while also going out and addressing some team needs.

Bringing Darnold back makes those two goals more challenging for a franchise that has shown efficiency in player management.

Vikings take a slight drop in ESPN’s power rankings after Week 8

The Vikings didn’t take a huge drop in the latest power rankings, but it was a slight one.

The one-time 5-0 Minnesota Vikings were being highly talked about around the NFL circles, but after dropping two games in a row, the talking heads aren’t so sure about Minnesota. The loss to Detroit two weeks ago didn’t hurt the Vikings all that much. While at home, the Lions are one of the better teams in the NFC, and both teams played well.

But Thursday’s loss to the Los Angeles Rams stung a little. The Rams entered the game banged up but got Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua back for the game. The Vikings’ secondary struggled to stop Matt Stafford and the vaunted passing attack.

Following Week 8 loss to the Rams, the Vikings took a dip in ESPN’s power rankings. Entering Week 8, Minnesota was ranked No. 6 but after losing to the Rams, the Vikings are now No. 8 entering Week 9.

With a home game against the Colts coming up on Sunday Night Football, the Vikings are hoping to right their wrongs and get back into the win column.

NFL analyst suggest Minnesota Vikings sign free agent OT

What will the Minnesota Vikings do in the wake of the Christian Darrisaw injury? One NFL analyst suggests looking to a former division rival

The Minnesota Vikings are reeling after losing two games in five days. The defense—the Vikings’ strong suit during the first five games of the season—has faltered in a big way the last two weeks. Quarterback Sam Darnold has started to show cracks in his armor, and perhaps worst of all, the Vikings lost Christian Darrisaw for the season.

Late in the first half of the Vikings’ loss to the Rams, Darrisaw was injured when the Vikings handed the ball off to running back Aaron Jones to get out of their own endzone and Rams’ safety Jaylen McCollough fell into Darrisaw’s knee. That collision resulted in Darrisaw tearing his ACL and MCL, and leaves the Vikings with a huge hole to fill along the offensive line.

Just how they go about filling that hole remains to be seen, but one NFL analyst is suggesting the Vikings look to a former division rival as the answer. In their weekly column at Bleacher Report, NFL analyst Matt Holder suggests the Vikings sign former Chicago Bears left tackle Charles Leno.

The Vikings should be plenty familiar with Leno and his game, as the left tackle spent seven seasons with the Bears before being released in 2021 and spending three seasons with the Washington Commanders.

Leno has yet to sign with a team and play in the 2024 season, but last season with the Commanders, Leno gave up just 34 pressures in more than 600 snaps of pass protection at left tackle, and allowed just three sacks on the season. Those numbers led Leno to a PFF grade of 72.5 that season, making Leno a strong option for a team suddenly looking at a major hole in their offensive line.

NFL analyst says the Vikings bringing in a free agent OT “makes sense”

Should the Minnesota Vikings bring in a free agent to replace Christian Darrisaw? Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer thinks it “makes sense”.

On Thursday night, things quickly went from bad to worse for the Minnesota Vikings against the Los Angeles Rams. It wasn’t enough that the Vikings defense got bullied for the second straight week, and the team lost their second game in a row after winning their first five.

The football gods had to add injury to insult—quite literally—as the Vikings lost their starting left tackle, Christian Darrisaw, for the season with a torn ACL and MCL. Darrisaw was playing at a Pro Bowl level this season and was a big reason why the Vikings offense—and the team in general—got off to such a hot start.

The injury has left many wondering what the Vikings plan on doing at the position in the wake of Darrisaw’s absence, and they have plenty of options. Swing tackle David Quessenberry came into the game on Thursday after Darrisaw’s injury, and has plenty of experience at tackle in the NFL. However, there was a clear difference in the level of play of the offense post-Darrisaw injury with Quessenberry in.

If the Vikings don’t trust Quessenberry full-time at the position, they also have Blake Brandel as an option. Brandel is currently playing left guard for the team, but also has experience at tackle. With Dalton Risner expected to return, head coach Kevin O’Connell could opt to swing Brandel outside and put Risner at tackle.

The third option — and one that Sports Illustrated’s NFL analyst Albert Breer says “makes sense” in his Week 8 Takeaways column for the outlet — is signing a tackle off free agency. Breer suggests the likes of D.J. Humphries, David Bakhtiari, and Charles Leno as options.

All three players have extensive experience at the position and would make for a solid rental option to finish out the season. As Breer points out in the column, Darrisaw is still just 25 years old, and there’s no reason to think he won’t make a full recovery from this injury, so there’s no need for the Vikings to go out and make a drastic move at the position for someone who would be a long-term solution. However, Breer believes bringing someone in for the short term could be the right move for Minnesota.

Alec Lewis notices something different about this Vikings team following Week 8

Alec Lewis noticed a big change from the Vikings’ defense during the loss on Thursday.

Things can turn on a dime in the NFL. That’s been the case with the Vikings’ defense the past two weeks. The Lions’ loss wasn’t all that shocking, given how well both teams played, and Detroit has been a good team the past two seasons. But Minnesota was supposed to win in Los Angeles against a banged-up Rams team on Thursday night.

Instead, the Vikings dropped their second game in a row and fans had to watch the Minnesota defense get beat around. The Vikings’ defense was feared during the season’s first five games. Brian Flores had his team flying around and creating chaos on the field, but things changed on Thursday.

The Athletic’s Alec Lewis noted the big change he saw from the defensive unit.

“For more than a season now, when the Vikings defense has been going well, you can sense his players are aware of this. They know how tentative their opponents are, too, having done their best to psych themselves up before exiting the bus at the stadium. The best comparison is a championship boxer who steps into the ring knowing he is capable of utter destruction.

“But the opposite can also be true. You can sense when the Minnesota defenders realize they are touchable that they no longer feel bulletproof. This was apparent late last season and was evident again after Thursday night’s 30-20 loss to the Los Angeles Rams at SoFi Stadium.
“The confidence, bordering on arrogance, had evaporated. The Vikings defenders returned to the sideline after allowing touchdowns, settled their helmets on the bench and stared out at the turf longingly, almost as if they couldn’t figure out how the magic had disappeared so quickly.”
Flores and Kevin O’Connell will need to right this ship if the Vikings are to be true contenders in the NFC this season. Minnesota has a stretch of games it can and should win, starting Sunday against the Colts.

Vikings expected to be patient prior to trade deadline before Week 10

Minnesota might be in a wait-and-see approach when it comes to making trades.

After dropping their second game in a row, some Viking fans are hoping to see Minnesota make some moves before the trade deadline — especially after star left tackle Christian Darrisaw is now out for the season.

But according to Ben Goessling with the Star Tribune, he expects the Vikings to be patient and be in a wait-and-see approach until after the Colts’ game on Sunday Night Football.

“The NFL’s decision to move its trade deadline back by one week means the Vikings will play once more, at home next Sunday night against the Colts, before deciding how aggressive they want to be in pursuit of upgrades for their 2024 roster.”

Minnesota could use some help in different areas. Of course, the offensive line remains a concern. Will Dalton Risner get the first shot at either left tackle or left guard, while moving Blake Brandel over? But what about the right guard position that has been a struggle all season? Then on defense, it’s clear the Vikings need some interior help on the line, and could use some help in the secondary.

Fans will have to wait and see what happens.

Vikings tumble in ESPN’s power rankings following loss in Week 7

After losing to the Lions on Sunday, the Vikings take a hit in the latest power rankings.

After a close loss to its division rival, the Detroit Lions, on Sunday, Minnesota is taking some heat from the talking heads. Although the Vikings were largely competitive in the loss, despite getting crushed in the second quarter, some are quickly losing faith in them.

Heading into Sunday, the Vikings were ranked No. 2 in ESPN’s power rankings. But after their two-point loss to Detroit, the Vikings moved down to No. 6.

Minnesota is now behind Kansas City, Detroit, Buffalo, Baltimore, and Green Bay. Three of those teams have two losses, including the Packers, whom Minnesota had already beat this season.

The Vikings will have to continue to prove themselves week in and week out. Minnesota will get its next chance on Thursday night when the Vikings play the Los Angeles Rams on Thursday Night Football. Minnesota is hopeful to get some of its key players back for the primetime matchup.

Are the Vikings thinking about making a switch on the offensive line?

Once he returns, it sounds like the Vikings might make a switch at right guard in favor of Dalton Risner.

It was another tough out for Minnesota right guard Ed Ingram against the Lions on Sunday. He remains one of the worst-graded guards in all of football, per PFF.

With veteran guard Dalton Risner ready to return any game, is Minnesota thinking about making a switch from Ingram? According to Ben Goessling, it’s a real possibility that Risner could become the next starting right guard.

“Ed Ingram had another tough day today. Maybe… we’ll see what happens,” Goessling said. Everybody keeps saying, ‘Why are you guys talking so much about Dalton Risner possibly being the starter’? That’s what we keep hearing, is that is something [replacing Ingram with Risner] they are considering very seriously. So, again… I said it to somebody on Twitter this week. We generally, our approach at the Star Tribune, is not to just spout opinions, especially on this show. I think, when we say stuff, it’s generally something we’re hearing, and that we’re fairly confident they’re at least thinking about doing.”

Ingram has been known as the better run-blocking guard between him and Risner, but even that has been poor lately. Since becoming the starter, Ingram has been overly suspect in pass protection, and that hasn’t gotten better. It would appear Risner is a viable option at this point.

Kevin O’Connell explains Dallas Turner’s shrinking role on the Vikings

Here’s why Dallas Turner hasn’t seen the field as much lately.

First-round selection Dallas Turner was a main cog for the Vikings’ defense in their Week 1 win over the Giants, where he saw 35 snaps. But in the past three games, he has seen 28 total snaps — while playing in four against the Lions on Sunday.

Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell was asked about Turner during his weekly press conference on Monday. O’Connell suggested some of it has to do with the Vikings’ deep linebacking core of Andrew Van Ginkel, Jonathan Greenard, and others, and some of it is just growing through the defense.

“Yeah, he’s working through it,” O’Connell said. “He’s a young player in a defense where the roles and responsibilities sometimes in-game can adjust based on what we’re seeing. I think we’ve got a really deep outside linebacker room with Gink (Andrew Van Ginkel) and (Jonathan) Greenard, Pat Jones, and then Haddy (Jihad Ward) has got his role. We’re going to continue to see Dallas have an impact. It may be a growing thing as we go here, but trust me, I’ve got a ton of confidence in Dallas. He’s growing within a pretty high-level IQ defense.”

Fans who are concerned about Turner — shouldn’t. O’Connell couldn’t praise Turner enough during his press conference and feels like he will be a huge part of the defense as the season progresses.

“I think he’s an incredible fit in our defense, not only in the present but in the future as well,” he said. “He’s gonna be an absolute monster for us. But sometimes, the way the game flow goes, there might be — what personnel are they using and how do we wanna match that personnel, things like that. … I think DT’s growing every single day. I’m more excited about him now than I was even when we drafted him.”

Kevin O’Connell explains why the Vikings traded for Cam Akers

For the second time in two seasons, the Vikings made a move to trade for running back Cam Akers.

For the second year in a row, the Vikings traded for running back Cam Akers. The former Texan running back had 40 carries for 147 yards and a touchdown for Houston this season before Minnesota traded for him.

The trade raised a few eyebrows around the league and the main reason was because of starter Aaron Jones and what that signaled about the injury he suffered in London two weeks ago. Jones left with a hip injury, but head coach Kevin O’Connell told reporters on Wednesday that the trade had no bearing on the current situation.

“Has no bearing on our current running back situation,” O’Connell said. “Aaron is going to progress throughout the week and hopefully has a chance to go on Sunday. Ty Chandler and Myles Gaskin and Cam will work behind (him). I like where Ty’s at, obviously, Aaron Jones has been a huge impact to our team, so getting to solidify that depth at that position, with an urgency to run the football throughout the rest of the season, we wanted to make sure we could do that now when an opportunity became available.”

It ultimately sounds like coach O’Connell just really likes Akers as a running back and Minnesota did want to re-sign him this offseason but the two sides didn’t agree on a deal. Akers will now get an opportunity to earn a potential backup role to Jones if he can beat out Chandler.