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00:00Let's start with Sam Darnold.
00:03What is the status of Sam Darnold after that miserable performance?
00:07Now, I blame half of it on his offensive line.
00:10The guy got sacked nine times.
00:12He got abused, but he was going to be worth this much money, probably $40 million or more,
00:18and now those days seem long gone.
00:20Yeah.
00:21So a couple of things.
00:22He's a free agent, right?
00:23So he had signed a deal with the Vikings for around $9 million, right, $8.75 million was
00:29the exact number.
00:30Obviously, he outplayed that in any significant way.
00:32Up to the final two games where he got sacked a lot, yes, the offensive line had major problems.
00:38There's no question about that.
00:39There's no denying it.
00:40But the problem that I had in this last game against the Rams is, and I get he was trying
00:46to make plays, he kept holding on to the football, holding on to the football, and the knock
00:49on him, Scott, there were three things prior to the season.
00:54Seeing the rush, handling the blitz, and holding the ball too long.
00:58They were all connected, and you saw that manifest itself over the final two games with
01:01the Vikings.
01:02Now, up to that point, the question would be is, how much would the deal be coming back
01:08to the Vikings?
01:09Because you can't walk away from a guy who's playing at this level.
01:12But now, J.J. McCarthy plays into it, right?
01:15Now, J.J. McCarthy wound up not playing this season, as we know, with a torn meniscus.
01:21He got hurt in that first preseason game against the Raiders.
01:23He actually played very well, but unfortunately got hurt.
01:26So they really don't know a lot about him.
01:28He started to come on late in training camp, and unfortunately had this injury in the preseason,
01:33so that set him back.
01:35But the Vikings, I know for a fact, have not made any decisions where they're going to
01:38pursue bringing back Donald yet.
01:40But Donald's certainly in the conversation to do it.
01:43But it's certainly, these two games show that he's always capable of regressing back to
01:47where he was for the season, which was a journeyman quarterback.
01:51He never played well, Scott, in his career, never.
01:53He can never string one or two good games together.
01:56This year, he was absolutely phenomenal.
01:59My vote is due tonight by midnight, and I can tell you this.
02:01I'm going to give you this right now.
02:02I am voting for the most improved offensive player in the NFL, Sam Darnold.
02:07There's no question about it.
02:08He came out of nowhere, like Jano Smith did three years ago.
02:10Nobody saw that coming after 10 years.
02:12This is a great story.
02:13And also, by the way, it's not like he's 30.
02:15He's actually pretty young.
02:17He'll get a good free agent deal, whether it's with the Vikings or not.
02:20But the Vikings have leverage here because of J.J. McCarthy.
02:23We don't want to beat Darnold up too much, because you're right about the offensive line.
02:27But he also has to take responsibility.
02:29That ball's got to come out, and he's got to see the rush better.
02:32That was the problem, particularly in this last game with the Vikings.
02:35And by the way, Darnold is by far the best free agent quarterback.
02:37This is a bad year, I can tell you right now.
02:40It's a bad year for free.
02:41You and I will talk more about the draft later on.
02:44But the early word is it's a two quarterback first round.
02:47That's it in 2025.
02:49So do you think he's going to make over $30 million, and is your guess he stays in Minnesota
02:54or not?
02:56I would say this.
02:57Up to the final two games, a lot to return.
03:00Not anymore, because of the way that he played and because of McCarthy.
03:04I know in coaching, you never walk away from players who play super high-level football.
03:08You just don't do it.
03:09But you have to be alarmed at the way he just played here.
03:11And by the way, the contract.
03:12So let's get to that before we move on to the Saturday and Sunday games.
03:16I look at him getting a sort of bridge deal.
03:19I do not see anyone committing to $40 million, $50 million a year.
03:22That's not going to happen.
03:24You look at Baker Mayfield's deal, which is around $33 million.
03:27If enough teams are involved, he could get up to $35 million.
03:30Somewhere between $30 million and $35 million with the first two years fully guaranteed.
03:34Because what that gives you, Scott, is obviously if you're bringing him in as a free agent,
03:38you've got to give him two years where you can't get out of the contract, because why
03:41would Darnold do it otherwise?
03:43But after that, because he's not proven himself.
03:46This is one year he's done it, Scott.
03:48It's one year that he's done it.