Sam Darnold hasn't torpedoed his chances of a big payday after two bad games to end the season… at least that's the NFL super agent's opinion Leigh Steinberg thinks – tell TMZ Sports He believes the Minnesota Vikings will stick with him as their franchise quarterback.
Darnold – the No. 3 overall pick in 2018 – enjoyed a career resurgence during the 2024-25 season… throwing for more than 4,300 yards and 35 touchdowns, leading the Vikes to a 14-3 record.
However, his winning streak came to an end… as the team's Super Bowl dreams came to an end after a poor outing against the Los Angeles Rams in the Wild Card round on Monday.
That being said, Steinberg believes the organization will look at the bigger picture — not just Darnold's final two games — and ultimately decide to keep the No. 14 pick under center despite the first-round pick JJ McCarthy on the squad.
“At the end of the day, I think so,” Steinberg says, “because if you look at his body of work, it worked very well and he was a franchise quarterback in every way – he shined during the season.”
Steinberg – the real-life inspiration for the movie “Jerry Maguire” – added that the Vikes can't be too thrilled with Darnold's performance in Week 18 against the Detroit Lions and in Monday's 27-9 loss … but they're feeling good I understand that it doesn't reflect what he's capable of on the gridiron.
If Minnesota ends up doing that, there's a nice raise on the horizon for Darnold…since he was on a one-year, $10 million deal before his overall outstanding 2024 season.
Steinberg's guess is pretty well-founded – after all, he has big names like him represented Patrick Mahomes, Troy Aikman And Steve Young …so he knows the ins and outs of the NFL.
Steinberg also spoke to us about his Foundationwhich was created to educate, prevent and cure concussions… and shared an incredibly exciting development in the field.