When former first-rounder QB Daniel Jones became available on the open market on November 27th, 2024, the Minnesota Vikings jumped on the opportunity to sign the promising young signal caller out of Duke University, seeing as these Vikes now have a bit of a reputation for becoming a sort of “rehabilitation center” for fallen former highly-touted QBs with a first-round NFL Draft pedigree.
Jones cleared waivers upon his arrival to the open market for any NFL team to consider his services by simply sliding over some cash. Understandably enough, he wanted to play on a contender and experience a locker room with some true winning culture, and that’s exactly what Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and Kevin O’Connell have been building in the Twin Cities.
With the inevitability of Jones becoming a free agent after the conclusion of the 2024 season, he started out on the Vikings’ practice squad when he got to Minneapolis, which also left Jones some flexibility for another team to come calling his name if their QB went down during the season, as ESPN’s Kevin Seifert explained upon breaking the news of the agreement between Jones and the Vikings that would pay Danny Dimes $375,000.
The singing of Jones seemed like not only a good short-term maneuver, but one that could possibly pay off in the long term as well.
Sam Darnold had already made it pretty obvious himself by late-November when Jones joined the franchise that he was probably going to command a contract the Vikings weren’t going to reward him with, seeing as J.J. McCarthy being the long-term QB1 was Plan A all along.
Dec 1, 2024; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Newly acquired Minnesota Vikings quarterback Daniel Jones walks off the field after the game against the Arizona Cardinals at U.S. Bank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeffrey Becker-Imagn Images
Darnold effectively played too well to stay with the Vikings already to that point, and with McCarthy being the presumed QB1 in 2025, that left Jones a great opportunity to stay with these Vikings for a year or two and absorb everything he possibly could from head coach O’Connell.
Obviously, that didn’t happen. Per Tom Pelissero on The Ross Tucker Football Podcast, Minnesota saw Jones in their future plans and felt comfortable with it until markets were opened to be tested by unrestricted free agents, a status that applied to Jones.
It sounded like the Vikings thought that Jones was coming back, but then they just got the sense right at the end that he was really not convicted about coming back to Minnesota, ended up taking a little bit less in terms of guaranteed money from the Colts to end up in Indianapolis.
Sep 8, 2024; East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA; New York Giants quarterback Daniel Jones (8) watched by Vikings defenders Ivan Pace (0) and Patrick Jones (91) during the second half against the Minnesota Vikings at MetLife Stadium. Mandatory Credit: John Jones-Imagn Images
It sounds like a twist that the purple team didn’t see coming until it stared them in the face; the Indianapolis Colts were actually offering less guaranteed money than Minnesota was willing to give Jones. However, the Colts’ opportunity came with a chance to compete with Anthony Richardson for a real possibility to start. Jones was never going to be considered a candidate to start for Minnesota, as he wasn’t the one that Plan A revolved around.
If you don’t want to be here, we’re not going to hold you,’ so they pulled the offer..
Jones, of course, ended up signing the dotted line with the Colts after the Vikings pulled out of the race, but it wasn’t without some last-second dramatics in the front office.