Daniel Jones has found his new team.
The former New York Giants quarterback is expected to sign with the Minnesota Vikings, head coach Kevin O’Connell announced on Wednesday. The move came shortly after Jones requested his release from the Giants after losing his starting job earlier this month. According to ESPN, the Vikings will pay him $375,000 for the rest of the season while the Giants will pay him $11.8 million.
“Good addition to our quarterback room,” O’Connell said of Jones. “I’ve always been a fan. Love, really like 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. I can’t wait to work with him.”
Jones, who is expected to arrive in Minnesota on Friday, plans to sign with Vikings’ practice squad, which would give him the opportunity to work with a non-Giants NFL coaching staff for the first time in his career. And considering starting QB Sam Darnold’s impressive turnaround with the Vikings this season, there may not be a better place for a struggling quarterback to land.
“The player development side and the quarterback development side is something that is a huge passion of mine,” O’Connell said. “I just love getting opportunities to work with guys, no matter what point in their quarterback journey they’re at. … Really, our system is built to hopefully try to help guys realize their truest potential.”
Jones got his start in the league with the Giants, who selected him with the No. 6 overall draft pick in 2019 out of Duke as the eventual replacement for Eli Manning. While he was the team’s starter consistently over the past six seasons, he struggled to find much success — especially recently, which was made only worse after the team signed him to a four-year, $160 million contract in March 2023. That led to the departure of running back Saquon Barkley, who is now in the midst of a career season with the Philadelphia Eagles.
After a very solid campaign in 2022 — when Jones led the team to a 9-7-1 record and to the playoffs — his play has largely gone downhill ever since. Jones threw for 2,070 yards with eight touchdowns and seven interceptions this season. He led the Giants to five straight losses before the team benched him in favor of third-string quarterback Tommy DeVito ahead of its loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday.
That dropped Jones to the team’s third-string quarterback, behind backup Drew Lock, and sent him to the scout team. He read a long statement that sounded like a goodbye to the organization days later, and then he asked to be released on Friday. The team quickly granted that request.
Jones went 22-44-1 over six seasons as a starter and had one winning season.
“There have been some great times, but of course we all wish there had been more of those,” Jones said in a statement before his release. “I take full responsibility for my part in not bringing more wins. No one wanted to win more games worse than me and I gave everything I had on the field and in my preparation.”
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Landing with the Vikings could lead to something bigger for Jones if he’s able to learn and grow. Darnold’s contract with the Vikings is for one year, which means the only QB they have signed for 2025 is J.J. McCarthy, their 2024 first-round pick who is recovering from a torn meniscus. If Jones impresses the coaches, it’s possible he could play himself into a job in Minnesota. And if he impresses other NFL teams, he could be high on the list of replacements if another starting QB misses time this season.
It’s unclear what will happen with Jones after this season, or if he will be able to work his way back into a starting role in the league. But with the way his career was going with the Giants, who have some very clear issues of their own to work through that go beyond struggles at quarterback, a departure from the franchise felt inevitable.
Now Jones gets a chance to restart somewhere else.
