The odd man out in this entire process appears to be Sam Darnold. And in Darnold’s case, it seems that he’s getting battered by recency bias to an extreme degree. In the 2024 regular season for head coach/offensive shot-caller Kevin O’Connell and the Minnesota Vikings,

The Vikings have several options at quarterback, but keeping Darnold around feels less and less likely as free agency approaches.

Minnesota Vikings quarterback Sam Darnold did not receive the franchise tag ahead of Tuesday's 4 p.m. ET deadline, setting him up to be the most coveted quarterback on the free agent market next week. Minnesota still is interested in working to re-sign Darnold, sources told ESPN's Adam Schefter.