Sports
Sam Darnold Free Agency Landing Spots: Five Possible Team Fits
A quality NFL starting quarterback? For most of the year, Sam Darnold looked the part—right up until he didn’t.
Remnants of Darnold’s frigid finish are difficult to forget, pooled around him like a moat because of the significance of the two losses to Minnesota, resulting from his ice-cold performances.
After 13 games with a passer rating of 100-plus and 14 wins in his first 16 games with the Vikings, Darnold crashed in the winner-take-all regular-season finale at Detroit for the NFC North title. He completed 18 of 41 passes (43.9%) and averaged 4.05 yards per pass with a 55.5 passer rating. Rather than the No. 1 seed in the NFC playoffs, the 14-win Vikings packed for a wild-card road game against NFC West winner Los Angeles (in Arizona). Playoff Sam wasn’t much better: 25 of 40 and sacked nine times.
Head coach Kevin O’Connell proclaimed the Vikings would welcome Darnold back and attempted a public-facing defense of Darnold’s nosedive, advising the public to assess the quarterback on his body of work in the 2024 season.
Reality is, Darnold lost a significant amount of money in those two spotlight games and enters free agency in complete turmoil. Teams will view the body of work as one thing, and his showing under the burden of playoff pressure as an unforgettable truth.
Can Darnold win games in the NFL? Certainly. Will he win when it matters? Ehhhhhh.
The best paths forward for Darnold are those without the guarantee of a No. 1 job. He could do well in the role he was signed by the Vikings to fill: bridge quarterback and mentor for first-round pick J.J. McCarthy.
Starter money disappeared in Detroit, and whatever was left went up in flames in Arizona against the Rams.
Here are five teams that could dial up Darnold as a stopgap in 2025.
1. Tennessee Titans
Nobody expects the Titans to torpedo the AFC South after posting the league’s worst record in 2024. And nobody knows if Will Levis will get another chance to prove he can handle the rigors of the position at this level. Darnold looked capable of helping Tennessee with a 3-0 record against the division last season and a win over the Titans in Nashville. He’d be aligned with another coach from the Sean McVay coaching tree—Kyle Shanahan in San Francisco, O’Connell in Minnesota—with Brian Callahan, who helped develop Joe Burrow in Cincinnati.
2. Cleveland Browns
Kevin Stefanski took the Browns to the playoffs with Joe Flacco fresh from the couch in 2023. With a fortified offensive line, Darnold could hold up well until Cleveland has a better option. But he’s more of a controlled, anticipatory passer who benefited from indoor environs in Minnesota. He doesn’t have the rocket-launcher throwing arm of Flacco or Jameis Winston or the mobility to do much outside the pocket.
3. Indianapolis Colts
This isn’t a perfect fit, considering the Colts designed an offense for a 6-foot-4, 250-pound quarterback who is a vastly better runner than passer in Anthony Richardson. But GM Chris Ballard promised competition, and the 2025 draft needs to be about playmakers, pass rush and offensive line help.
4. New York Giants
Brian Daboll can make it work with a play-action passer. Darnold on a no-promises contract would at least give the Giants options entering the draft.
5. New York Jets
New coach Aaron Glenn authored the Week 18 game plan—then as Lions defensive coordinator—that resulted in Darnold’s free agency demise. But Darnold nearly got the best of him in a 31-29 loss to the Lions on Oct. 20.
Sports
CJ Abrams, Foster Griffin spark Nationals over D-backs
Jul 25, 2026; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; Washington Nationals shortstop CJ Abrams (5) hits a two RBI double against the Arizona Diamondbacks during the third inning at Nationals Park. Mandatory Credit: Brad Mills-Imagn Images CJ Abrams had three hits including a home run, Foster Griffin pitched into the seventh inning and the Nationals beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 5-3 on Saturday in Washington.
Abrams tied the game with a two-run double in the third and hit his 25th home run in the fifth, giving him a major-league-leading 79 RBIs. He also singled and stole his 17th base.
Griffin (12-2), a free agent at the end of the season, may have been making his final start for Washington with the trade deadline approaching. Griffin, who struck out two and walked one, allowed three runs on six hits after giving up one or zero earned runs in eight straight starts.
Clayton Beeter pitched 1-2-3 ninth for his ninth save.
Gabriel Moreno had a two-run single for Arizona, which had won four straight, and Tim Tawa had two hits and a run.
Rookie Mitch Bratt (0-1) gave up five runs on seven hits over five innings in his fourth start. He struck out three and walked five.
An error by second baseman Ketel Marte gave the Nationals runners on first and second with one out in the second, but Bratt retired Nasim Nunez and Keibert Ruiz.
The D-backs struck for two runs in the third. Ryan Waldschmidt led off with a single and Corbin Carroll was hit by a pitch. Geraldo Perdomo bunted the runners over and Moreno followed with a two-run single.
Washington answered with a four-run rally in the bottom half. Curtis Mead walked with one out and Andres Chaparro doubled him to third. Abrams lined a double to center and the game was tied. After Abrams was out trying to steal third, Dylan Crews walked. Jacob Young singled and Daylen Lile tripled into the right field corner and the Nationals led 4-2.
Abrams made it 5-2 when he homered to right-center leading off the fifth.
In the seventh, Tawa doubled with two outs and scored on a single by James McCann. Eddy Yean came on and retired pinch hitter Max Kepler to end the inning.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Dylan Cease tosses dominant 1-hitter as Blue Jays blank Red Sox
Jul 25, 2026; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Dylan Cease (84) pitches during the first inning against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park. Mandatory Credit: Bob DeChiara-Imagn Images Dylan Cease threw a one-hitter and George Springer hit a three-run home run as the visiting Toronto Blue Jays beat the Boston Red Sox 6-0 Saturday.
The teams will play the rubber match of the series on Sunday. Boston is 11-2 in its last 13 games against the American League East and has won 16 of its last 18.
Cease (7-5), who took a no-hitter into the ninth against the San Francisco Giants on July 8, only allowed four Red Sox hitters to reach base.
He was perfect until walking Caleb Durbin with two outs in the fifth and didn’t allow a hit through five innings.
The complete game was the first for Toronto this season and the 12th in the majors. Seven of the complete games have been shutouts.
It was Cease’s fourth career complete game and his fourth career shutout. The right-hander walked three and struck out 12 on a career-high 120 pitches.
Boston starter Sonny Gray (12-2) gave up five runs on 10 hits in five innings. The right-hander didn’t walk anyone and struck out three on 75 pitches.
The Blue Jays took control in the third when they used six straight hits to score five runs with two outs.
Nathan Lukes started the rally with a double into the left-field corner and scored when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. lined a single to left.
Kazuma Okamoto kept it going by singling off the glove of third baseman Durbin and Springer made the Red Sox pay by homering just over the Green Monster in left to make it 4-0.
Varsho continued the inning with a single to center and he scored when Ernie Clement doubled off the base of the left-field wall to go up 5-0.
Gray had been 10-0 since coming off the injured list in mid-May. This was his worst outing since giving up five earned runs in four innings in a 6-0 loss to Minnesota on April 14.
Cease, pitching on the second anniversary of his no-hitter for the Padres, didn’t give up a hit until Andruw Monasterio doubled to lead off the sixth.
Monasterio did not advance, however, as Cease induced Connor Wong to ground out, struck out Anthony Seigler and retired Ceddanne Rafaela with a pop out to shallow center.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Jung Hoo Lee, Rafael Devers shine as Giants torch Angels
Jul 25, 2026; San Francisco, California, USA; San Francisco Giants first baseman Rafael Devers (16) celebrates with second baseman Luis Arraez (1) after batting him in on a three run home run against the Los Angeles Angels during the fourth inning at Oracle Park. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-Imagn Images Jung Hoo Lee lifted a three-run home run as part of a five-run third inning, Rafael Devers homered for the second consecutive day and the San Francisco Giants made it two straight over the visiting Los Angeles Angels with a 9-2 shellacking Saturday afternoon.
Robbie Ray (9-6) threw six shutout innings for the Giants, who followed up on a walk-off win by scoring nine runs in the rematch’s first four innings.
Lee’s homer, his sixth of the season, capped a lead-creating third that began with one-out hits by Luis Arraez and Heliot Ramos, followed by two-out RBI singles from Devers and Casey Schmitt.
Arraez also singled in the fourth, an RBI hit that plated Drew Gilbert, before Devers launched his 22nd homer, another three-run shot, that made it 9-0.
Angels starter Ryan Johnson (2-5) was pulled one out into the fourth, eventually charged with eight runs on eight hits in 3 1/3 innings. He walked one and struck out four.
Ray retained the nine-run margin through his six innings, during which he allowed six hits and two walks. He struck out five.
In becoming the team’s first nine-game winner, the left-hander ran his career record against the Angels to 4-1, equalling his best career winning percentage against any opponent.
The Angels avoided a shutout in the seventh when Mike Trout, who had two earlier singles, grounded into a bases-loaded double play, scoring Jose Siri.
The visitors completed the scoring in the ninth when Vaughn Grissom drew a two-out, bases-loaded walk.
Backup catcher Tyler Heineman finished the game on the mound for the Angels, throwing a 1-2-3 bottom of the eighth.
Devers, who had a fourth RBI taken away in Friday’s opener when what was originally scored as a two-run, ground-rule double was changed to a walk-off, RBI single, got his four RBIs a day later along with three hits and two runs scored. Arraez had two hits and scored twice for the Giants, while Lee added a double to his home run.
Siri and Logan O’Hoppe joined Trout with two hits each for the Angels, who dropped their third straight. The Angels were out-hit 11-9.
-Field Level Media
