The Minnesota Vikings will have a new quarterback this season after Kirk Cousins left the team to sign with the Atlanta Falcons this offseason, and it sounds like the team has decided that veteran quarterback Sam Darnold will have the first chance to win the job.
During a recent press conference, Minnesota Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell made it clear that Sam Darnold has “earned the right” to take the majority of the first-team reps as the team begins preseason training camp.
“You will see at some point see J.J. be consistently maybe getting more one reps there,” O’Connell said at a press conference. “At the same time, I think Sam earned the right to take the bulk of those reps early on.”
And it sounds like O’Connell has generally been quite pleased with what he’s seen from his quarterbacks.
“Both guys have done a lot of really, really good things and some more notable — visually — than others,” O’Connell said. “I also think both guys have made some mistakes with the football – learning mistakes — where they’re trying to either see if they can squeeze a ball in over the middle before a safety can step in front or maybe not taking a chance down the field in a 1-on-1 where maybe that’s our best option.”
We’ll have to see whether or not Darnold will indeed be the team’s starter this season.
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