I think we should just all prepare for a season of Sam Darnold at this point.
For the last few weeks, the biggest debate about the Raiders has been at quarterback. With a little luck/draft capital, they could be in a decent position to draft Shedeur Sanders, who's long been considered the next face of the franchise. But more than two teams need QBs in a two-QB draft, which means the Raiders might have to decide if either Sanders/Cam Ward is worth the effort and price it'll take to get them.
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All of that brings us to Darnold, who will almost certainly at least get a chance to test the free agent market in a few weeks. If there's one QB who's been linked more to the Raiders than Sanders, it's Darnold, and a recent report from Bleacher Report's NFL Insider James Palmer further hints at one of the league's worst kept secrets: if he leaves Minnesota, the Raiders are going to make a run at him. While doing a recent web show full of interesting NFL nuggets for B/R, Palmer explained in a bit more detail how things look in Las Vegas.
Sam Darnold signing with the Raiders feels almost certain at this point
"His fit to the Raiders? A lot of people say it makes sense with the way Chip Kelly has evolved as an offensive mind," Palmer said. "The type of offense he wants to run, how Pete Carroll likes to take some pressure off the quarterback to make sure he sets them up to succeed. There's just a lot of things that connect there. I think they do believe they're closer – I don't know why – but they believe they're closer than some people around the league think, and they'd like to turn this thing around quicker. Going out and getting Sam Darnold maybe does that."
So be it. "Chip Kelly and Sam Darnold could really work together" is not a sentence I thought I'd be optimistically hearing in 2025, but turns out there's a lot of things about 2025 I did not expect whatsoever. As long as it's a short-term deal that doesn't totally wreck the team, Raiders QB1 Sam Darnold is fine.
Now we just sit around and wait until that fateful Adam Schefter tweet in early March. I know it's coming, you know it's coming, we all know it's coming. Now's as good a time as any to make our peace with it.