Sam Darnold has played well enough to leave the Vikings more open-minded about their 2025 plans than many realize, according to sources familiar with the Vikings' thinking. They have not ruled out offering him a contract for next season, despite widespread assumptions they will let him sign elsewhere in free agency and hand the job to J.J. McCarthy, who has spent his rookie season recovering from a torn meniscus in his right knee.

Related players: Daniel Jones

The story added the Vikings have also prepared to move on from Darnold, especially if he receives a more lucrative offer from another QB-needy team. Darnold agreed to wear a modified camera on his helmet during practices and walk-throughs to help McCarthy during his recovery process, the story said. McCarthy uses the video to simulate practice reps via virtual reality. The Vikings also signed Jones, who was released by the Giants, to their practice squad last month, a move widely viewed as an early look at a potential candidate to replace Darnold next season as the veteran alongside McCarthy.

Former Giants QB Daniel Jones plans to sign with the Vikings practice squad, after having cleared waivers, per me, @TomPelissero and @CameronWolfe.

A new beginning and opportunity for Jones with a chance to the backup.

Related Players: Sam Darnold, Nick Mullens, Brett Rypien

This seems like a great signing for both parties; Jones breathes new life into his NFL career and the Vikings have a legit backup in case anything happens to Darnold. We'll see if KOC can work his magic on Jones and revive a career that was heading in a terrible direction.

Vikings QB Sam Darnold (right hand), RB Aaron Jones (ribs) and LT Cam Robinson (foot) are all off the injury report and good to go vs. the Titans.

Related Players: Cam Akers, Ty Chandler

With Jones fully off the injury report, he can be considered an RB2 in Week 11, while Darnold should be benched in place of a QB streamer in almost all formats.

Vikings WR Jordan Addison (ankle) is off the injury report and good to go Sunday at Green Bay.

QB Sam Darnold (knee), edge Dallas Turner (knee) and LT Christian Darrisaw (illness) also off the final injury report.

Related Players: Justin Jefferson, Jalen Nailor

This all but eradicates Nailor's fantasy value, but he is likely to still be in the mix, which puts a cap on Addison in his first week back since the second half of Week 1. Both of them are nothing more than desperation Flex options in Week 4.

Vikings QB Sam Darnold’s MRI revealed a knee bruise.

The post added there was no structural damage. Darnold isn't expected to miss any time, but owners will want to keep an eye on his practice status this week just in case. The Vikings are at the Packers in Week 4, which is an early Sunday contest.

“It’s good, and that’s as much as I’m gonna say about that,” Sam Darnold told PFT by phone after Sunday’s 34-7 win over the Texans, regarding his knee.

At first, it didn’t look good. It looked the opposite of good. Darnold had the demeanor of a guy who feared the worst and was trying to will his way through it.

He willed his way back to the field, after missing only one play. He threw four touchdown passes and no interceptions for the day. Darnold kept going until Nick Mullens re-entered and took a knee on the final snap of the game.

Darnold will have an MRI today, per the story. And, the story went on to say there’s no reason to think the Vikings fear the worst because Darnold did his post-game press conference, and they made him available by phone after the game.

Surgery on J.J. McCarthy’s torn meniscus revealed that a repair was necessary and the Vikings rookie quarterback now will miss the 2024 season.

While the Vikings are disappointed, they “strongly believe he will come back better and have a long, successful NFL career”, as one team official said. But rookie season is over.

Related Players: Sam Darnold, Nick Mullens, Jaren Hall

So much for a QB controversy.

This will be Sam Darnold's job, which makes him an interesting target deep in Superflex/2QB leagues.

Coach Kevin O’Connell has announced that quarterback J.J. McCarthy will undergo surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his knee.

Related players: Sam Darnold, Nick Mullens, Jaren Hall

As the story went on to say, the threshold question is whether he’ll have the meniscus trimmed or repaired. As to the former, the player can come back quickly. As to the latter, he could miss several months. The story also pointed out that the other side of the coin is that a repair maximizes the amount of cartilage in the knee. A trim reduces the cushioning, setting the stage for a potential bone-on-bone situation. The story added what it thinks is the smart, long-term play - to get the meniscus repaired and the team goes with Darnold in 2024 and Hall would be the backup. McCarthy could potentially make a return around November. This is just the opinion of the author of course, we should get more information soon. For now, Darnold should get a bump in value with McCarthy at least temporarily out of the picture. He has the weapons around him to be a potential QB2 and superflex option.

Rookie quarterback J.J. McCarthy is not participating in the Vikings’ Monday night practice.

Coach Kevin O’Connell said McCarthy reported right knee soreness to the team’s medical staff.

Related players: Sam Darnold

McCarthy played 30 snaps in the preseason opener and went 11-of-17 for 188 yards with two touchdowns and an interception. He was scheduled to receive more snaps with the first-team offense this week, O’Connell said in the story. The team said they sat him out of precaution and also wanted to run more tests.

As the third week of camp nears an end, Sam Darnold has received all but two of the first-team reps in 11-on-11 drills. J.J. McCarthy got the other two. This should be no surprise to anyone who has listened to coach Kevin O'Connell talk about the position. While McCarthy is clearly the club's future quarterback, team leaders are in agreement that his ascension will not be rushed.

Any doubts that Darnold will start the season as QB1 seem to be out the window at this point. The Vikings do have a tough opening schedule, with the 49ers, Texans, Packers, and re-vamped Jets coming before their Week 6 Bye. McCarthy could be a play by the second half of the season, so we'll see how he looks for streaming purposes if/when that time comes.