Ex-Giant Daniel Jones picks Vikings, plans to sign with noted QB guru Kevin O’Connell

NEW YORK — Daniel Jones is planning to sign to the Minnesota Vikings‘ practice squad, a source confirmed to the New York Daily News on Wednesday.

Jones, 27, who recently requested his release from the Giants after they shut him down, now joins a playoff contender with a quarterback-friendly head coach in Kevin O’Connell and a need for a backup behind starter Sam Darnold.

This gives the former Giants first-round pick an opportunity to get inside a winning locker room, learn a new system and rehabilitate his career with a fresh start. He also still will have the ability, as long as he is on the practice squad, to sign elsewhere if another team’s starter goes down.

“Tons of respect for Daniel Jones as a player and a person,” O’Connell told reporters Monday. “Got to know him through the draft process years ago … I can just say that I’ve been a big fan of Daniel’s for a long time, and I hope wherever his next step takes him, it’s a good opportunity for him.”

Jones is only signing for the remainder of this season, so he can still hit free agency again in March if he wants. His deal is for $375,000, per ESPN, so the Giants are still on the hook for essentially the full remainder of Jones’ guaranteed money this season.

All told, the Giants will have paid Jones $82 million guaranteed the past two years.

The Vikings, meanwhile, get a motivated player and leader with experience in case Darnold gets banged up, plus potential insurance for 2025 if rookie J.J. McCarthy doesn’t recover at a good pace from two knee surgeries.

Minnesota GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah also has the opportunity to recoup a compensatory draft pick if Jones leaves in free agency this spring.

Jones escaped a 2-9 Giants team that limps into Thanksgiving Day at Dallas with Drew Lock poised to start at quarterback due to Tommy DeVito’s injuries coming out of Sunday’s 30-7 beatdown defeat to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Jones is joining the team he defeated in the 2022 NFL wild-card round to earn the four-year, $160 million contract that the Giants paid him in March 2023. And he is uniting with another former top 10 NFL Draft quarterback selection in Darnold, the former Jet.

Now it’s about starting the next chapter.

The Giants chose Jones over Saquon Barkley in 2023 and 2024, and now neither player is playing in New York.

Barkley is an MVP frontrunner after leaving in free agency for the Philadelphia Eagles this spring. Now Jones is aiming to use his fresh start as a springboard to one day be a consistently successful starting quarterback.

Minnesota was the best fit for his first step in that process.

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