Minnesota Vikings QB J.J. McCarthy is a relative unknown and suffered a serious knee injury, which has led to questions around the NFL.

As such, Minnesota will be in prime position to revive another former starting quarterback's career in 2025 -- potentially as McCarthy's backup and/or his competition. The Vikings signed former New York Giants signal-caller Daniel Jones after he was cut mid-season and bringing him back is an option if Darnold departs.

The former USC Trojans star completed 25-of-40 passes for 245 yards, one touchdown and one interception. Darnold also lost a fumble, which was recovered for a touchdown, and was sacked nine times by Los Angeles, which tied an NFL postseason record.

When the lights got the brightest, Sam Darnold reverted to his ghost-seeing ways. And that makes it a lot easier to allow Darnold to become a free agent and to move forward with 2024 first-rounder J.J. McCarthy.

Quarterback Sam Darnold is projected to leave the Minnesota Vikings for a monster offer from the Las Vegas Raiders for over $100 million.

The Minnesota Vikings went out with a whimper on a Monday night, and in the process, Sam Darnold may have cost himself any shot to return as the club's unquestioned starting quarterback. A pleasant surprise for much of an explosive 2024 campaign,

GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, who spoke before O'Connell, said he had just run into McCarthy while walking around TCO Performance Center prior to his press conference. He said McCarthy was in the weight room doing "those cool quarterback thrusty things that Dak (Prescott) does." He also noted that the rookie QB is back to throwing in on-field workouts.

With the Minnesota Vikings’ quarterback now a free agent following a disappointing end to the campaign, could it be that he’s about to be replaced?

Co-host Luke Inman noted that while Darnold's trade value was arguably in the range of a first-round pick heading into the final game of the regular season, his last two performances against the Detroit Lions and Los Angeles Rams, respectively, tanked that value to a significant degree.

The conversation isn’t going away for a few more weeks if you are the Minnesota Vikings. The discussion around the future of Sam Darnold and J.J. McCarthy is set in stone for some while

The Minnesota Vikings brain trust of general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and head coach Kevin O'Connell have the biggest choice an NFL team grapples with when building out the roster: what should they do with their starting quarterback position?