The Vikings are signing quarterback Daniel Jones to their practice squad, according to a source with knowledge of the situation.
Vikings signing quarterback Daniel Jones to their practice squad
The Vikings had emerged as a top candidate to sign Jones, the former first-round pick and starting QB who was benched and then released by the Giants.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
November 27, 2024 at 5:30PM
The Giants benched the quarterback on Nov. 18 in favor of Tommy DeVito, granting his request on Nov. 22 to be released. The Vikings quickly emerged as a candidate to sign the former first-round pick for the rest of this year, in what amounts to a six-week get-to-know-you period before the team and the former first-round pick assess their options for next year.
J.J. McCarthy is the Vikings’ only quarterback under contract for 2025; if Sam Darnold leaves in free agency, the team will need a veteran quarterback to pair with McCarthy as he likely enters his first season as the starter.
Jones will be a free agent after the 2024 season as well, and could yet leave this season if a quarterback-needy team signs him to its active roster. For however long the 201 sixth overall pick is in Minnesota, though, Jones and the Vikings get a chance to see if there’s a fit for next season.
Coach Kevin O’Connell first met Jones in 2019, when O’Connell was Washington’s quarterbacks coach and evaluating draft prospects for a team that took Dwayne Haskins nine picks after the Giants selected Jones.
“I have tons of respect for Daniel Jones as a player and a person,” O’Connell said about Jones on Monday. “I got to know him through the draft process years ago, and I am sure now that he’s a free agent and there’s probably a ton of league-wide interest in him. Daniel’s going to make the decision that’s best for him in his career moving forward, and I’m sure he’s working through that process right now. I really can’t get into too much ... I can just say I’ve you I’ve been a fan of Daniel for a long time and hope wherever his next stop takes him, it’s a good opportunity for him.”
New York had signed Jones to a four-year deal worth $40 million per season after he led the team to a playoff victory over the Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium two years ago. But he tore his ACL in 2023, and got off to a rocky start in 2024 with a season-opening loss to the Vikings, when Andrew Van Ginkel picked off his screen pass and returned it for the team’s final points of a 28-6 win. Jones completed 63.3% of his passes for 2,070 yards and eight touchdowns against seven interceptions with the Giants, but the team went 2-8 in his starts.
His stopover in Minnesota puts him in a quarterback room with Darnold, who used to share MetLife Stadium and the back page of New York tabloids with Jones as the subject of QB intrigue (and scrutiny) after the Jets took him third overall in 2018. Darnold played three seasons in New York and spent time with two other teams before signing a one-year, $10 million deal with the Vikings to replace Kirk Cousins as the starting quarterback this season. He’s posted his best season as a starter in Minnesota, setting a career high with 21 touchdown passes and bumping his completion rate up to 67.6% (nearly six points above his previous best) while leading the Vikings to a 9-2 start.
Darnold’s success — and the potential it brings for a multiyear deal in the spring when he is a free agent — has burnished the Vikings’ reputation as a kind of QB retreat, with a deep coaching staff to develop passers and a full complement of skill position players to work with on Sundays.
Jones could benefit from the same infrastructure, though it’s possible he won’t have any in-game work to use as evidence the short stay in Minnesota helped him reform his game. Instead, the possible path could be for him to sign a one-year deal with the Vikings for 2025 that mirrors the one Darnold signed this year, giving the team another quarterback to work with McCarthy and either back him up or take the starting job in the event he is injured or not ready to be the No. 1 quarterback after a torn right meniscus ended his rookie season in August.
O’Connell has talked frequently about how teams can bear as much of the responsibility for a quarterback’s failure as the player can; McCarthy said after the draft that all six passers taken in the first 12 picks saw the Vikings as the best possible situation for a young QB. At least for a few weeks, the coach will get a chance to work with Jones, in a relationship that could carry into 2025 if it goes well.
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The Vikings had emerged as a top candidate to sign Jones, the former first-round pick and starting QB who was benched and then released by the Giants.
