{"id":721058,"date":"2026-02-01T08:44:19","date_gmt":"2026-02-01T08:44:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/721058\/"},"modified":"2026-02-01T08:44:19","modified_gmt":"2026-02-01T08:44:19","slug":"justin-jefferson-calls-out-vikings-front-office-for-letting-sam-darnold-walk-going-all-in-on-jj-mccarthy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/721058\/","title":{"rendered":"Justin Jefferson calls out Vikings front office for letting Sam Darnold walk, going all-in on JJ McCarthy"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Minnesota Vikings had a decision to make after the 2024 season: bring back Sam Darnold<\/a> or roll with JJ McCarthy<\/a> for the 2025 season. Darnold was coming off his best season in the NFL<\/a> where he led the Vikings to a 14-3 record, while McCarthy, a first-round pick months prior, missed the entire campaign with a knee injury.<\/p>\n

Minnesota allowed Darnold to leave in free agency, creating an opportunity for McCarthy to start. McCarthy dealt with several injuries and Minnesota missed the playoffs. Darnold, now quarterbacking the Seattle Seahawks, will be under center in eight days in Super Bowl LX. <\/p>\n

One year in, the decision to let Darnold walk appears to have altered the trajectory of the Vikings as a franchise. All-Pro wide receiver Justin Jefferson<\/a> wonders what would have been if Darnold wore purple and gold in 2025. <\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone knows the difficulty of the quarterback position this year, how we were dealt it,\u201d Jefferson told USA Today<\/a>. \u201cBut having a quarterback that already had a season under his belt with us, knew the plays, knew the playbook, knew the players, throwing to me, Jordan Addison<\/a>, T.J. Hockenson<\/a>, all these guys, I definitely feel like we would have done better. But it is what it is, it\u2019s on to newer and better things. But I\u2019m definitely happy and proud of him that he is able to reach it this year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sam Darnold has excelled in Seattle, Vikings have questions at QB<\/p>\n

McCarthy played in 10 games this season, throwing more interceptions (12) than touchdowns (11). The rest of the Minnesota\u2019s schedule was quarterbacked by Carson Wentz<\/a> and Max Brosmer<\/a>. Jefferson saw career lows in yards (1,048) and touchdowns (two).<\/p>\n

General manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah was fired<\/a> on Friday. His decision to go all-in on McCarthy cost him his job. <\/p>\n

Adofo-Mensah, Jefferson, and everyone else will watch Darnold next Sunday against the New England Patriots, a chance for the 28-year-old to win his first Lombardi Trophy. Jefferson, though he admits it will be tough, will be cheering on his former teammate.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s definitely tough. It\u2019s tough to watch,\u201d Jefferson said. \u201cI love that he\u2019s in the Super Bowl. I\u2019m happy for him, I want nothing but the best for him, especially the way his journey was at first, people doubting him and people not giving him the respect. Now they\u2019re giving him the respect. Now they\u2019re seeing that he\u2019s a top-tier quarterback in this league. <\/p>\n

\u201cOf course, selfishly I wish he had done that for us last year, but to see him blossom and bounce back right after last year and make it this year, I\u2019m happy for him and I hope he wins. I\u2019m rooting for Seattle and I think Seattle\u2019s gonna win. I\u2019ll be rooting for him.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Minnesota Vikings had a decision to make after the 2024 season: bring back Sam Darnold or roll…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":721059,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2073],"tags":[7,71235,104151,233,259,2529,6,104152,234],"class_list":{"0":"post-721058","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-minnesota-vikings","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-j-j-mccarthy-21-img-academy","10":"tag-justin-jefferson-17-destrehan","11":"tag-minnesota","12":"tag-minnesota-vikings","13":"tag-minnesotavikings","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-sam-darnold-15-san-clemente","16":"tag-vikings"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115994497602843732","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/721058","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=721058"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/721058\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/721059"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=721058"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=721058"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=721058"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}