The Vikings aren’t likely to franchise tag Sam Darnold, but the team may still like to keep the quarterback around. 

The NFL’s deadline to apply the franchise tag on players is on Tuesday at 4 p.m. EST. According to an ESPN report on Monday night, it seems unlikely that Minnesota will opt for this route with their former first-round draft pick.

However, that doesn’t mean his time with the Vikings is over necessarily, either. 

Despite not using the franchise tag, the Vikings are keen on re-signing Darnold. This approach means they won’t have the extended timeframe until July 15 to negotiate a long-term contract, as per the report.

The franchise tag salary for quarterbacks is projected to be around $40.2 million.

Darnold had a breakout season in 2024.

He led the Vikings to 14 wins while throwing for 4,319 yards and 35 touchdowns on the way to his first Pro Bowl nod.

Darnold, the QB, had a challenging end to his Cinderella story. He faced difficulties in the season finale against the Lions, a game that determined the NFC North champion, and also struggled in a playoff defeat to the Rams.

Darnold gave very little insight into his thinking after the season ended and in late January during an interview with SiriusXM NFL Radio, he said “I’m not going to share anything about what I’ve been thinking.”

“There’s obviously, a lot that’s going to happen still, even after the Super Bowl. So [I’m] just going to continue to talk to my agent and figure things out from there,” he said. 

Darnold arrived in Minnesota on a one-year contract and had a strong training camp. 

An injury to first-round pick J.J. McCarthy during the preseason essentially solidified Darnold’s status as a starter for the Vikings last season. 

“We just took it one day at a time,” Darnold told Newsweek in February about his success in 2024. “For me, just trust in the work that we put in throughout the season, we put in the offseason to put ourselves in a great position and that’s pretty much it. Trust in the work and trust in our process.”