QB Daniel Jones to join Vikings on Friday
Former New York Giants quarterback Daniel Jones signed a $375,000 contract for the remainder of the season with the Vikings and will suit up for his first practice in Minnesota on Friday.
Head coach Kevin O’Connell confirmed the Vikings landed Jones after discussing the role of each of his quarterbacks already in the building with those players. Jones will need time to get up to speed in the system and can be placed on the practice squad with a chance to move up the depth chart as he absorbs the Vikings’ offense.
“I’ve always been a fan,” O’Connell said of Jones, a first-round pick in 2019 who worked out before that draft for the Los Aneles Rams and their offensive coordinator at the time, a then-33-year-old O’Connell.
“Love, really liked the person, the human being, the makeup, and then the player, Daniel Jones. I think there’s so much out in front of him that are going to be really good things that we get to personally be a part of, and I can’t wait to work with him.”
O’Connell said he took the approach of full transparency to communicate to the Vikings’ current quarterbacks they still have his confidence.
“I think that’s important,” O’Connell said. “I wouldn’t be who I kind of claim to be and be authentically me if I didn’t have a clear, open and honest communication with those guys, which in a lot of ways I hope they weren’t surprised to hear my confidence level in them. My confidence level in our current quarterback room (is high), and I only think we’re adding to it when Daniel arrives on Friday.”
ESPN and NFL Network reported the value of the deal. Should another team want to sign Jones off of Minnesota’s practice squad in the next three weeks, the Vikings reportedly would clear his path if it meant replacing an injured starter for that team, according to multiple reports.
Jones would become an unrestricted free agent in March 2025.
The Giants granted Jones’ request for a release last week and he cleared waivers on Monday, leaving him free to sign with any team.
With the Vikings (9-2), Jones would join a contending team and compete with journeymen Nick Mullens and Brett Rypien to back up starter Sam Darnold. First-round pick J.J. McCarthy is out for the season with a knee injury.
NFL rules limit weekly pay of practice squad players with more than two years of experience to $21,300.
New York was 2-8 with Jones as the starter this season (24-44-1 since 2019). He completed 63.3 percent of his pass attempts for 2,070 yards with eight touchdowns and seven interceptions in 10 starts. He also rushed for 265 yards and two scores.
Jones, 27, was the No. 6 overall pick by the Giants in the 2019 draft. He suffered a season-ending ACL tear last season but returned in time to start this season as the No. 1 quarterback. He was benched last week with a record of 3-13 over his past 16 starts and was replaced by Tommy DeVito.
Jones has 14,582 passing yards, 70 touchdown passes and 47 interceptions in 70 career games (69 starts). He has 2,179 rushing yards with 15 TDs.
The Giants are on the hook for about $11.8 million owed to Jones for the rest of the season.
