The Las Vegas Raiders are one of the most probable teams to sign Minnesota Vikings quarterback Sam Darnold, according to ESPN’s Benjamin Solak, but that doesn’t mean they will. According to league regulations, Darnold may extend in Minnesota before March, before any other club can begin negotiating with him. A few clubs are looking for a new quarterback, but this offseason’s free agent and NFL draft classes are lacking in that position, so if he is eligible for free agency, several teams will probably be interested. Operating under the supposition that the Tennessee Titans and Cleveland Browns, at pick Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, will select Cam Ward of Miami and Shedeur Sanders of Colorado off the board in some order, Solak also mentioned the New York Giants and Pittsburgh Steelers as viable destinations for Darnold.
After weighing all of the options, Solak projected that the Raiders would sign two past Super Bowl champion quarterbacks on one-year contracts: Russell Wilson of the Steelers and Aaron Rodgers of the New York Jets, if they are unable to get Darnold. “Wilson was not enough of a bridge QB for the Steelers this season, and given his below-average caliber of play, he should not be enough for the Raiders either,” Solak wrote on Tuesday, January 28. “With Rodgers and Wilson on one-year deals, though, the likelihood for functional quarterbacking doubles (and the potential for preposterous locker room hijinks increases by a factor of 10).”
If Wilson doesn’t sign an agreement with Pittsburgh before then, he will be a free agency in March. Although Rodgers’ contract with the Jets is theoretically set to expire in 2025, Aaron Glenn, the team’s new head coach, has not committed to him, and New York may save $41 million by removing the quarterback in the upcoming months. “It would cost the Jets over $90 million to keep Rodgers next season, whereas cutting him before the 2025 season would cost them only $49 million overall,” Solak stated.
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