The real Sam Darnold doomsday scenario no Vikings fan wants to acknowledge
By Mark Powell
When the Minnesota Vikings lost Kirk Cousins this offseason thanks to some timely tampering from the Atlanta Falcons (as well as a boatload of money), Kwesi Adofo-Mensah had to pivot quickly. In doing so, he signed former San Francisco 49ers backup Sam Darnold, and drafted JJ McCarthy out of Michigan as a long-term project.
Darnold projects to start this season, as he has experience doing so with the New York Jets and, per reports out of San Francisco, has grown into a starting-caliber passer in Kyle Shanahan's offense. The 49ers felt comfortable with Darnold. Surely he will work out just fine in Minnesota for the short term.
McCarthy, meanwhile, is more of an unknown. As arguably the biggest project of the first-round quarterbacks taken (though Drake Maye has an argument there), McCarthy has experience in a pro-style offense where he rarely had to test his arm. Those who have seen him throw on a consistent basis swear by his arm strength. His touch and accuracy could use some work, and playing under Darnold on the depth chart will allow McCarthy to further explore his skill-set.
What happens if the Sam Darnold experiment goes wrong with the Vikings?
If Sam Darnold fails to live up to expectations, there's a chance he could be benched for McCarthy late in the season. However, Sports Illustrated's Connor Orr had a prediction far worse than any Vikings fans could expect.
“The 2018 No. 3 pick of the Jets will have a short runway as the Minnesota Vikings’ starter before he gets traded before the Nov. 5 deadline to a contender that has an injured starter, paving the way for the J.J. McCarthy era to begin in Minnesota,” Orr wrote.
In this sense, Darnold would either have to play really well, or poorly enough that the Vikings deal him for spare parts. If Darnold is playing well but available for trade, then that means Minnesota isn't in the NFC Wild Card race, which is an unfortunate outcome. If Darnold is playing so poorly that the Vikings are desperate to dump him and start McCarthy instead, then they're also out of the Wild Card race and starting their rookie QB ahead of schedule.
Either way, any scenario in which Darnold is traded is a losing one.
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