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Mike Morris blasts Vikings for letting Sam Darnold leave
Sunday night on FOX 9 Sports Now, Vikings' analyst and former long-snapper Mike Morris joined Jim Rich to talk about the firing of Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, Sam Darnold, J.J. McCarthy and what's next for the team in the offseason. Also, what do the Vikings do at GM, and should Kevin O'Connell have a bigger say in the roster?
MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - Less than a year after being the quarterback of the Minnesota Vikings, Sam Darnold is a Super Bowl champion.
The Vikings’ quarterback situation was one of many reasons, and likely the primary one, that perhaps cost Kwesi Adofo-Mensah his job as general manager. Sunday night on FOX 9 Sports Now, Jim Rich was joined by former Vikings’ long-snapper Mike Morris to talk Vikings and the quarterback situation.
‘Kwesi takes the hit’
What we know:
The fact that Darnold was playing in a Super Bowl the season after being with the Vikings likely didn’t sit well with the Wilf ownership group. Darnold won 14 games as a starter with the Vikings in 2024, throwing for 4,319 yards and 35 touchdowns, both career-highs.
But in the two biggest games of the season, Darnold played his worst football of the year. After losing in the NFC Wild Card Playoffs, the Vikings let him hit free agency, and he signed a three-year, $100 million contract that Minnesota was never going to match.
"Kwesi takes the hit, let’s put it that way. But I think there’s an awful lot of things that go on in an operation the size of an NFL franchise. It’s not on just one man, and certainly not the GM when it’s about personnel and who’s going to be kept, not going to be kept. Let’s push him on and just keep the young guy," Morris said. "That was not just Kwesi, it’s a collaborative thing. Most of the upper echelon had a lot to do with that decision-making, so they all can kind of look at themselves and wonder what they did tonight."
Morris says the Vikings should’ve made more of an effort to bring Darnold back for the 2025 season, and let J.J. McCarthy learn from the sideline.
"You let someone walk out that could’ve come in, having won 14 games last season and help McCarthy build and grow, because that’s what he need to do the most," Morris said. "I think he would’ve pushed McCarthy to the bench and taken the reigns again for this team."
McCarthy went 6-4 as a starter, missed seven games due to injury and the Vikings missed the NFC Playoffs, finishing 9-8. The Vikings won five straight games to end the season, and McCarthy made four of those starts.
Kevin O’Connell now in charge?
Why you should care:
With Adofo-Mensah out, the Vikings say they’ll look for a new general manager after the NFL Draft. Rob Brzenzki is in charge of the payroll, but Kevin O’Connell is now in charge of the Vikings’ roster.
Will the Vikings promote Brezinski to general manager? Should they? Morris says the Vikings should also bring in at least one veteran quarterback to compete with McCarthy.
"I think they’re in good hands with Rob Brzenski, that’s fine for the time being and maybe even permanently. For Coach O’Connell, he needs to take control of it and have more of a say in the matter. He already did, we know he did. He had a lot to do with whatever happened at the quarterback situation," Morris said. "Now more than ever it should be him, he should want to take that responsibility and own it and find something that is legit in training camp to pull a quarterback in behind McCarthy and bring that cream to the stop. That’s how it works."