Kwesi Adofo-Mensah: Sam Darnold played incredible football for us

After having the best season of his career with the Vikings, quarterback Sam Darnold is set to become a free agent in March.

But with two poor year-end performances against the Lions and Rams, it’s an open question whether Darnold will return to Minnesota next season — or if the organization would even want to have him after drafting JJ McCarthy 10th overall last spring.

General manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, as expected, did not give any definitive answers during his end-of-season press conference on Thursday. But he praised Darnold for everything he did in 2024.

“We have to see Sam play some amazing football for usAdofo-Mensah said. “Won a lot of big games – in Seattle, at Lambeau. The production he was able to do, we’re talking about the games he was winning for us. There were a lot of games where he was a ‘win for the sake’ type of player. And you must also account for it with all (that) fully.

“So we’re going to approach this offseason — I don’t want to give you a specific answer, but it’s really — everything we’re doing is about, OK, what’s the team going to look like around him? How does this piece fit into our entire championship equation? And we’re going to do those drills like we did last offseason, we laid out the plan that we came up with. We’re going to have those conversations with Kevin (O’Connell), my staff, everybody in this building to join. Because at the end of the day, you make decisions in uncertainty. But what happens is that once you find a course of action, it’s how you implement your plan — how you show up every day and get the best version of whoever you decide to go with as a quarterback. How does that fit into your long-term picture? The contract structure, all those different things will go according to our plan. And I’m excited about those conversations because I think we have a lot of good options. And in the most important position in the sport, I think that’s a great thing.”

Adofo-Mdnsah added that even before the season, there was a belief in the building that Darnold could play at a high level, even before it became clear that Darnold would be the starter for the entirety of 2024 due to McCarthy’s season-ending injury. But Adofo-Mensah did not say how Darnold’s play might have changed the team’s plans for the quarterback — if at all — going forward.

“I think everyone sees these things as binary – yes/no, left/right. I don’t think that’s it,” Adofo-Mensah said. “I think it’s making sure you have a certain level of play at quarterback as long as Kevin and I are here. I think we’ve prepared for it and we’re excited for the opportunity.”

Daniel Jones could also factor into the equation at quarterback, though Adofo-Mensah noted that Jones also has to decide if Minnesota’s building is right for him going forward.