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NFL Pundit Doubts Former Vikings Can Succeed Without the QB Whisperer
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- NFL Pundit Doubts Former Vikings Can Succeed Without the QB Whisperer
Photo courtesy of the Minnesota Vikings
The Minnesota Vikings still don't have a quarterback to pair with J.J. McCarthy for the 2025 season. They are likely to give the Michigan product the reigns, but he'll still need someone to hold the clipboard for him… unless they do the impossible and sign Aaron Rodgers .
Last season, head coach Kevin O'Connell believed enough in Sam Darnold to bring him in as Minnesota's bridge quarterback . After McCarthy tore his meniscus and was ruled out for the entire 2024 season, the Vikings QB whisperer turned Darnold into a legitimate MVP candidate, which Sam then parlayed into a big payday this offseason .
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After Daniel Jones was dropped by the Giants midseason, he too joined the Vikings' QB Rehabilitation Club at TCO Performance Center. His time in KOC's rehab program was brief, however. The 2019 No. 6 overall pick took his talents to Indy this week, instead of finishing O'Connell's full 12-step program.
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Daniel Jones' decision to bail on KOC rehab program could prove costly
The Minnesota Vikings were hoping to retain the services of Daniel Jones , but now the pressure is on him to prove he doesn't need Kevin O'Connell to turn his career around, which starts with beating out another former top 10 pick, Anthony Richardson at Colts training camp. Ben Solak (ESPN) is questioning that decision.
On a one-year, $14 million deal, Jones is clearly betting that he'll get some action in place of Richardson — because of Richardson's poor play, an injury or a training camp battle — and play well enough to cash in during the 2026 offseason.
If snagging Jones from the Vikings is a big sigh of relief, then your franchise is in a bad way. What happens next? Jones goes 4-4 as a starter in the back half of the season and the Colts are in the same position again in 2026, trying desperately to sign another low-end QB1 in free agency to save jobs for another year?
Daniel Jones left a middling career with the Giants, where he threw 8 touchdowns and 7 interceptions last season, before being cut loose. Solak goes on to call call Indianapolis "a better offensive environment than the Giants ever afforded him," but he questions "how much success can a team draw from a QB room of Richardson and Jones when it doesn't have a dominant WR1 and when two starting offensive linemen just left in free agency ?"
Therein lies another problem facing the QBs who are leaving KOC's nest in 2025, which includes Darnold, Jones and Nick Mullens , who signed with Jacksonville Jaguars , where former Vikings assistant QB coach turned Jags offensive coordinator , Grant Udinski. Not only are they losing their QB whisperer, but they're losing the ridiculous weapons arsenal in Minnesota, which includes Justin Jefferson , Jordan Addison , TJ Hockenson and Aaron Jones .
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With the Colts, Daniel Jones will not have near the talent around him. And while he won't have to worry about JJ McCarthy, he'll still have to win the job from a third-year former first No. 4 overall pick that Indianapolis, not only invested a very high draft pick in, but a lot of time too.
Daniel Jones obviously wanted to get back on the field right away, and feels like his best chance to do that is with the Colts, but it remains to be seen whether or not leaving KOC, after just a few months, is the right move for his career, longterm.
Can Sam Darnold succeed without the Minnesota Vikings?
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Unlike Jones, Darnold has fully graduated from Kevin O'Connell's QB Rehabilitation Program, which earned him a new deal worth over $100 million total. Now, with the Seattle Seahawks , Darnold will have to prove that he can still be productive without KOC whispering sweet QB nothings in his ear. Once again, Solak is skeptical.
"It is extremely unlikely Darnold performs in Seattle as well as or better than he did in Minnesota, because Seattle's offensive nucleus is dreadful compared to Minnesota's unit. Seattle's offensive line was one of the worst in the league last season, as Smith was pressured within 2.5 seconds on 18.8% of his dropbacks, the fourth-highest rate according to NFL Next Gen Stats. And the pass-catching group of DK Metcalf, Tyler Lockett and Jaxon Smith-Njigba doesn't hold a candle to that of Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison and T.J. Hockenson."
Of that aforementioned group, only Smith-Njigba is worth getting excited about, And even he is more at the level of Jordan Addison, maybe even Jalen Nailor , than he is Vikings WR1, Justin Jefferson. Let's be honest, there was a lot that went into Darnold's excellence in Minnesota, and he won't have any of that in Seattle.
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Related: ESPN: Minnesota Vikings Have Already Won NFL Free Agenc y
We have seen this story with Darnold before. It played out in both New York and Carolina . As Solak defines it, "this move is simply poor team-building" . That couldn't be more accurate, and it's up to Sam Darnold to prove us wrong, being he has struggled at every starting stop, outside of his time with the Vikings.
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