Last offseason, the Minnesota Vikings made a potentially franchise-altering decision to let former quarterback, Sam Darnold walk in free agency and moving forward with then-second year signal caller, JJ McCarthy.
Since that decision last March, the fortunes of the two parties have bifurcated dramatically. Sam Darnold is preparing to play in Super Bowl LV with the Seattle Seahawks as 4.5-point favorites, whilst the Vikings are coming off nine-win season which saw McCarthy rattled by both injuries and very inconsistent play throughout.
Indeed, whilst the team’s leadership have expressed faith in the development of their young QB and former top-10 draft pick back in 2024, Minnesota are actively looking to strengthen their quarterback room, with the additions of names like Mac Jones and Anthony Richardson potentially ones to look out for in the near future.
So it would stand to reason that Adofo-Mensah may have some thoughts on his and head coach, Kevin O’Connell’s decision to bypass Darnold and roll with McCarthy in 2025 and beyond – which he did in his media availability on Thursday.
Adofo-Mensah Shares Thoughts On Sam Darnold Departure
“There are nights you wake up and stare at the ceiling and ask yourself – I always go back to the process and what we thought at the time.” Adofo-Mensah said to the media.
“It’s easy to be revisionist and results-based, but going to really think through what we had at the time. I still understand why we did what we did. The results maybe didnât play out the way we wanted them to, but ultimately, at the end of the day I think we could have executed in certain places.”
The Vikings GM also went on to elaborate that the better execution did not specifically refer to any one individual who needs to perform better, but the grouping as a whole. Yet, reading between the lines it seems pretty clear that Adofo-Mensah certainly could have been happier about how the former National Champion’s first season as a starter could have gone.
How Much Do The Vikings Regret Letting Darnold Leave?
As he points out in the press conference, Adofo-Mensah believes the decision made from a process standpoint, given all available data and a presumably comprehensive cost-benefit analysis of either extending, franchise tagging or letting Darnold walk was the correct one.
At this point in time one year in, however, things could not look much worse. Especially when one considers that early projections that claimed Darnold may get upwards of $40 million per year, or perhaps even $50 million, never came to fruition, and he signed a very modest (for a quarterback) 3 year, $105 million free-agent deal with Seattle.
Now, a bad initial look does not damn McCarthy, nor does it going to make Darnold a future Hall of Famer. The Carolina Panthers choosing Bryce Young over CJ Stroud in 2023 looks far more rational in January 2026 than it did in January 2024.
The former USC man is still young, and on a cheap-ish deal that no doubt still at least slightly bugs the Vikings exec. But to get the full picture on how the choice pans out, we shall have to wait some time longer.
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