Who Should I Start? Sam Darnold or Mason Rudolph

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.

Sunday, January 5, 2:46 PM

Tennessee Titans quarterback Mason Rudolph took over as quarterback in the second half as Will Levis took a seat. The Titans could only muster up three points in the first half as Levis completed three of his five throws for 31 yards and was sacked once. Both quarterbacks have posted eerily similar stats this year, but Levis has started in one more win over Rudolph. They aren't playing for anything other than a better draft pick, so this seems to be a tryout to see if the team will hang on to both signal callers going into next season.