After going through the best season of his career with the Vikings, quarterback Sam Darnold is set to become a free agent in March.

But with two poor performances to end the year against the Lions and Rams, it’s an open question as to whether Darnold will be back with Minnesota next season — or if the organization even would like to have him after drafting J.J. McCarthy at No. 10 overall last spring.

General Manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, as expected, did not provide any definitive answers during his season-ending press conference on Thursday. But he did praise Darnold for what he did overall in 2024.

“We got to see Sam play some incredible football for us,” Adofo-Mensah said. “Won a lot of big games — at Seattle, at Lambeau. The production he was able to do, we’re talking bout games where he won games for us. There were a lot of games where he was a ‘win because of’ type player. And you also have to net that with all of [it] in totality.

“So, we’re going to approach this offseason — I don’t want to give you the stock answer, but it really is — everything we do is about, OK, what’s the team around him going to look like? What does this piece fit into our whole championship equation? And we’ll do those exercises like we did last offseason, came out with a plan that we came up with. We’ll have those conversations with Kevin [O’Connell], my staff, everybody in this building to come along board. Because at the end of the day, you’re making decisions under uncertainty. But what happens is, once you find a course of action, it’s how you implement your plan — how you show up every day and get the best version of whoever you decide to go with at quarterback. How does that fit into your long-term picture? The contract structure, all those different things will go under our plan. And I’m excited to have those conversations because I think we’ve got a lot of good options. And at the most important position in the sport, I think that’s a great thing.”

Adofo-Mdnsah added that there was a belief in the building even before the season that Darnold could play at a high level, even before it became clear that Darnold would be the starter throughout 2024 because of McCarthy’s season-ending injury. But Adofo-Mensah did not say how Darnold’s play may have changed the team’s plans at quarterback — if at all — going forward.

“I think everybody looks at these things as binary — yes/no, left/right. I don’t think it is that,” Adofo-Mensah said. “I think it’s making sure you have a certain level of play at the quarterback position for as long as Kevin and I are here. I think we’ve set ourselves up to do that and we’re excited about that opportunity.”

Daniel Jones could also factor into the equation at quarterback, though Adofo-Mensah noted that Jones also has to decide if Minnesota’s building is right for him for the future.