Sam Darnold could sign a rich contract in the 2025 NFL Offseason. Which three teams could be prepared to overpay him? Darnold is probably in the "QB middle class" with guys like Baker Mayfield and Derek Carr - he's good enough for teams to win with him, but beyond that is a huge uncertainty.
Darnold is absolutely going to be a starter in this league in 2025, but it's not clear which team that could be as of yet. The veteran QB may honestly just take the contract offer that's worth the most. It's his free agency and his choice.
There could be a plethora of teams lining up to sign Sam Darnold. Could these three teams actually overpay for him?
3 teams who could overpay for QB Sam Darnold in the 2025 NFL Offseason
Tennessee Titans
The Tennessee Titans hold the first overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft. The big issue here is that there is not a clear-cut QB worthy of the first overall pick. The Titans may be one team who find themselves in the Sam Darnold sweepstakes. They have been pretty bad over the last two seasons and honestly kind of lucked into Ryan Tannehill playing well for them for about two seasons.
The Titans really don't have much of a direction at the moment, but I could see a scenario where they think they can make some progress in the weaker AFC South with Sam Darnold and a strong offseason after that. That would be the wrong move, but bad teams do bad things...
Las Vegas Raiders
New Raiders' head coach Pete Carroll was probably seeing what Sam Darnold was doing in 2024, and Carroll has always been a bit of an old-school head QB with his thinking of the QB position. Carroll still does believe a team can have success with modest QB play, a good run game, and sound defense. Now yes, that could be how the Raiders find success in 2025, but that won't get them to their end goal.
I could see a scenario where the cap-rich Raiders make the strongest offer to get Sam Darnold on their team. The main issue here is that the Raiders do not have nearly the offensive structure in place that the Minnesota Vikings had in 2024. This could be another poor QB investment from Vegas.
Minnesota Vikings
What team is better than the Minnesota Vikings to keep Sam Darnold around? Maybe the Vikings do what Darnold do be their franchise QB yet again in 2025. It wouldn't be the smart move, but you just never know - this team did win 14 games in 2024 with Darnold taking the snaps, so perhaps they think there's room to grow there.
And even in a return to the Vikings, I am not sure how Darnold does not at least get $100 million on a free agency contract. That's probably what he's going to be worth on the open market, but it would be too much for the Vikings to spend. They have a huge window opening if JJ McCarthy ends up being a home-run QB selection.
They should not go backwards by signing Sam Darnold.