Report: Vikings agree to terms with Sam Darnold on a one-year, $10 million dollar deal

The Vikings have signed QB Sam Darnold who the Broncos were expressing interest in, so now what?

According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, the Minnesota Vikings have signed free agent quarterback Sam Darnold to a one-year, $10 million dollar deal. The Broncos were interested in the former third overall pick according to multiple reports but at the end of the day, he picked the Vikings.

Now with Sam Darnold, Gardner Minshew, Jacoby Brissett, Tyrid Taylor, Mac Jones, Baker Mayfield, and Kirk Cousins signed and off the free-agent market, the pickings are getting slim for the Broncos. The available free-agent veteran quarterbacks include Jimmy Garoppolo, Ryan Tannehill, and Mason Rudolph who are all listed as options according to 9NEWS Denver’s Mike Klis.

Gross.

Jimmy Graoppolo has been suspended for two games and is an oft-injured veteran so I am not sure if he is a realistic option. Ryan Tannehill has not looked great in a few years and Mason Rudolph is a career backup who played decently to get the Steelers into the postseason this past season. None of these move the needle for me or look like noticeable improvements over Jarrett Stidham.

Some other names include Drew Lock, Jameis Winston, Tyler Huntley and Marcus Mariota but none of them really scream Sean Payton quarterback. I know there’s a certain part of Broncos Country that wants Drew Lock back but one of his big issues has been processing and reading the field. Sean Payton wants that, so I don’t think he is a legit option. Tyler Huntley and Mariota do not fit the mold of Payton quarterbacks and while Jameis has played for him before, I think Payton has been there and done that with him already. Not saying it won’t happen, but I would be surprised if he went down that road again.

That leaves some of the trade candidates.

Justin Fields is the big name here but he is not a Sean Payton quarterback. He does not consistently win in the pocket and he does things that Russell Wilson did that irked Payton. So we can probably cross him off the list. Next on the list is Washington’s Sam Howell. We saw him carve up the Broncos in week two but had a pretty up-and-down season that saw him get benched at the end of the year. Now with the Commanders picking 2nd overall and taking a quarterback, he could be dealt. Finally, and probably the most controversial option he is Zach Wilson. The former second-overall pick has been a bust for the Jets and looks to be on the outs in New York. He desperately needs a change of scenery and Denver could provide him that. He has that second overall pedigree and Payton could view him as a reclamation project he can fix. I am not saying this is an ideal scenario, but it is one of the options the Broncos have and one they have reportedly been discussing.

They could simply just stick with Stidham and draft a quarterback at some point in the draft and go from there but it appears they want to add someone to compete with Stidham.

The options are not great but Payton and the Broncos have not been desperate enough to pay what it would take to sign one of these quarterbacks so we shall see what they do in coming days.