Sam Darnold departs: Seahawks reportedly sign former Vikings QB to three-year, $100-million deal

Quarterback Sam Darnold is officially departing the Vikings.

Darnold agreed to a three-year, $100.5-million contract with the Seahawks on Monday, according to reports from both ESPN and NFL Network.

In his one season in Minnesota, Darnold revitalized his image as starter, leading the Vikings to a 14-3 finish in the regular season under the guidance of head coach Kevin O’Connell.

Darnold passed for a career-high 4,319 yards and 35 touchdowns on 361 completions in 2024. He was a first-time Pro Bowl selection and a finalist for the Associated Press' Comeback Player of the Year.

O’Connell has talked on several occasions throughout the offseason about the value Darnold created for himself while with the Vikings this year. His contract in Minnesota was $10 million for a single season coming off a year as a backup in San Francisco.

“Sam is in a position where the NFL thinks he can play quarterback at a high level,” O’Connell said at the NFL Scouting Combine in late February. “So, that’s a really good thing and I feel very proud to be a part of him getting to this point and we’ll see where it goes from here.”

Darnold replaces Geno Smith, who was traded by the Seahawks to the Raiders for a third-round pick on Friday afternoon. At the time, it was reported that Seattle was going to target Darnold in free agency, as the Vikings passed on franchise tagging him earlier in the week.

The Vikings will play at Seattle in 2025.

The Vikings also lost backup quarterback Nick Mullens on Monday afternoon. Mullens, who’d spent three seasons in Minnesota, is reportedly signing with the Jaguars on a two-year deal. He appeared in five games for the Vikings in 2024.

The Jaguars hired former Vikings assistant quarterbacks coach Grant Udinski to be their offensive coordinator in February. They also signed ex-Vikings tight end Johnny Mundt to a two-year deal Monday.

What does the Vikings quarterback room look like now?

It seems the path is cleared for J.J. McCarthy, 22, to take the reins as starter. The No. 10 overall draft pick from last spring has returned to on-field workouts and is back above 200 pounds after rehabbing from the right meniscus tear that held him out of the 2024 season.

The Vikings kept McCarthy involved as much as they could throughout his rehab from watching practice reps to film study and meetings to even virtual reality training. In February, McCarthy said he was “feeling fantastic” as he counted down days to the start of OTAs.

“He maximized what this year was for him,” O’Connell said in January. “He’s got a level of comfort in our offensive system and getting to really have a front-row seat for every aspect of what Sam went through.”

Said Vikings General Manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah: “We’re really confident in him. His work ethic, and his preparation... That position is about talent and preparation. And he’s got those things in spades. And so if that’s the course of action we decide, we’ll go there confidently.”

Backup Brett Rypien is on contract for another season. He was moved to the practice squad in favor of elevating ex-Giants starter Daniel Jones to the active roster for the Vikings' wild card playoff loss to the Rams.

Jones is a free agent this cycle. The Vikings could opt to return him on a shorter contract similar to the one they struck with Darnold last year, but the 27-year-old Jones could also attract a bigger offer from elsewhere — despite not playing a game snap since November — on an aging free agent market who’s top available quarterbacks are now Aaron Rodgers and Russell Wilson.

“We try and not be as binary with the quarterback conversation as others are, where, either you’re one of the top three or you’re nobody, and so we kind of talk about a little differently,” Adofo-Mensah said when asked about how the team views Jones at the combine. “But Daniel is somebody we wanted to bring in for that reason, just to learn about him, see what he would be like when he’s in our building, in our culture. He is a great option for us. And again, like the other options we have, we’ll think about him and go forward.”

The Titans, Steelers, Giants, Browns and Colts are all still looking for quarterbacks. Former Steelers quarterback Justin Fields signed to fill Rodgers' spot with the Jets on Monday. Wilson and Rodgers have both been linked to the Pittsburgh job.

The Vikings can be thrown in that mix, too, as they need to roster a third quarterback. Who the Vikings sign to fill that spot — Jones or otherwise — could be indicative of how strongly they feel about McCarthy’s readiness to be a starter this fall.

Follow the Vikings' moves on our free agency tracker and get live updates and analysis on NFL free agency from Minnesota Star Tribune staff writers here.