Report: Vikings see 'untapped potential' in Sam Darnold
Despite the Vikings drafting J.J. McCarthy as their quarterback of the future, Sam Darnold enters the 2024-25 season as the presumed starter, so how should fans expect him to look under center in Minnesota?
"The Vikings believe that there is untapped potential here. There's a lot of ability. He's never had a supporting cast quite like this," NFL reporter Jeremey Fowler reported on SportsCenter. "They believe he can not only start games but potentially thrive if everything goes well."
Fowler continued saying that the plan would be to sit McCarthy "an unknown amount of games." He will have the opportunity to sit and learn behind Darnold.
The Vikings supporting cast is undoubtedly the best that Darnold has had in his NFL career. In New York, his main targets were Robbie Chosen (formerly Robby Anderson), Jamison Crowder and Chris Herndon. While in Carolina, Christian McCaffrey only played 13 games in the two seasons Darnold was in town and he was forced to throw to a young D.J. Moore and Chosen once again.
Now in Minnesota, with the wide receiver duo of Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison, along with Aaron Jones coming out of the backfield and T.J. Hockenson returning to the field sooner rather than later, Darnold has offensive stability that he's not had as an NFL starting quarterback.
Darnold came into the league as a very young prospect, being only 20 years old on draft night. McCarthy has a similar outlook as a 21-year-old who can sit on the bench and absorb as much as he possibly can before being thrown into the fire.