Who Should I Start? Carson Wentz or Sam Darnold

Monday, January 6, 4:38 AM

Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Carson Wentz completed 10 of 17 pass attempts (59%) for 98 yards in the 38-0 loss to the Denver Broncos. Wentz was tasked with leading the Kansas City offense without Patrick Mahomes but could not find the endzone. The Chiefs only had 33 total plays in Week 18, compared to 72 for the Broncos. The veteran quarterback managed to stay turnover-free in this contest, but that's the only positive to take from this game. With Mahomes resting multiple weeks between games, Wentz will likely not be asked to start more games. The Chiefs will play the winner of the wildcard matchup between the Los Angeles Chargers and Houston Texans. Wentz will likely find himself back on the bench when the next Chiefs game takes place.

Tuesday, February 18, 4:25 PM

ESPN's Kevin Seifert reports that the Minnesota Vikings are in no rush to place the franchise tag on impending free-agent quarterback Sam Darnold despite his career year in 2024. It doesn't mean they won't eventually use it on the 27-year-old signal-caller, and it doesn't rule out the team giving him a multi-year extension. Another option is that the Vikings tag Darnold and then trade him for draft-pick compensation. Keeping Darnold on the tag in 2025 would cost Minnesota around $40 million, which would be a questionable decision with former first-rounder J.J. McCarthy (knee) waiting in the wings as the franchise QB. Seifert believes the most likely scenario is that the team lets Darnold sign elsewhere while saving the tag for a player like cornerback Byron Murphy Jr., who had a career-high six interceptions in 2024. Darnold set career-highs last year across the board but also had just one TD and a 53% completion percentage in the last two games.