Yep. . .practice squad
UPDATE: We have the terms of Jones’ contract from Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network, and the Vikings are paying him next to nothing.
Contract update: The #Vikings will pay Daniel Jones a little over $100,000 for the rest of the season if he stays on the practice squad. (He’d get a higher rate if/when he’s moved to the 53-man roster.) That leaves the #Giants on the hook for the other roughly $11.7 million.
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) November 27, 2024
It’s a little over $100,000 for Jones for the rest of the year if he stays on the practice squad. That number would increase if he gets moved to the active roster but not by very much.
After a few days worth of speculation, we finally have our answer about whether or not former New York Giants’ quarterback Daniel Jones will sign with the Minnesota Vikings.
And the answer is “yes,” but not in the way that many may have expected.
The #Vikings get a new backup for Sam Darnold, while Daniel Jones gets a chance to learn under one of the NFL’s top staffs for the next couple months.
He’ll be on the practice squad, giving flexibility and minimal investment for Minnesota while the #Giants pay him $11.8 million. pic.twitter.com/7OtLIEv6bv
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) November 27, 2024
Per numerous sources, the Vikings are signing Jones, but they’re signing him to the practice squad. He will continue to collect nearly $12 million from the Giants while hanging out with the Vikings.
Of course, signing him to the practice squad also means that another team could come along and “poach” him if they wanted, but I’m not sure how great the odds of that happening will be.
The move gives the Vikings some flexibility at quarterback. They currently have both Nick Mullens and Brett Rypien on the 53-man roster as the backups to Sam Darnold, and now they have Jones on the practice squad. Rypien has been inactive as the team’s third “emergency” quarterback for every game this season, so if a team did come along to try to take Jones away the Vikings could counter by letting Rypien go and promoting Jones to the active roster.
This will also give the Vikings the opportunity to evaluate Jones a bit going into next season. As we’ve already mentioned, the only quarterback on the Vikings’ roster that’s currently under contract for the 2025 season is J.J. McCarthy, who has been sidelined this entire season with a knee injury. If the Vikings like what they see from Jones and think they could do something with him, he could wind up on the roster next season as either the backup to McCarthy or a possible bridge starter if McCarthy needs more time.
If Jones does leave the Vikings after this season, the team will be in line to receive a compensatory draft pick for him in 2026.
Yes, we know that Daniel Jones hasn’t been particularly good in recent seasons. You know who else was pretty bad before Kevin O’Connell got his hands on him? Sam Darnold, who is now poised to get a big contract to be a starter somewhere else next season.
So, there’s a new quarterback in town for the Vikings, now that things are officially official. What do you think of the move folks?
