Vikings Thinking About a QB Shuffle
The quarterback position was the main reason for Minnesota’s low expectations entering the 2024 season. Kirk Cousins departed after six seasons of QB1 duties in the Twin Cities, and his desired successor, J.J. McCarthy, suffered a season-ending knee injury, leaving veteran Sam Darnold with the keys.
Vikings Thinking About a QB Shuffle
Darnold has been impressive, and so has his backup, Nick Mullens, in the two plays he had to operate (when the games hadn’t gotten out of hand for the opponents). QB3 is Brett Rypien, who the Vikings acquired as a supposed upgrade over Jaren Hall before the season began. It was a shocking move without any on-field consequences.
Daniel Jones joined the club after the New York Giants released him. He needed a fresh start, and learning from one of the league’s most respected offensive coaches made sense. The former sixth-overall pick has been on Minnesota’s practice squad ever since and has not made an appearance in a purple uniform on Sundays.
However, he might be promoted in the upcoming days because the NFL’s rules potentially allow the Vikings to gain some draft capital. If Jones is on the 53-man roster rather than on the practice squad in Week 18, the franchise is eligible for a compensatory pick should he leave in the upcoming free-agency period.
Head coach Kevin O’Connell was asked about it during his Monday press conference:
We’re gonna have some dialogue about that (adding Jones to the active roster) as far as the timing of it. Daniel’s been quietly behind the scenes, putting in some phenomenal work. [I’m] probably more excited now than I was to get him in here day one just by what he’s shown us already. That’s definitely something we’re going to talk about.
Jones’ tenure with the Giants ended quickly. His breakout season, including the end of the Vikings’ Super Bowl dreams in 2022, was followed by a bad start to the 2023 season and a torn ACL. The quarterback once again struggled this year, and the Giants decided to pull the plug, making sure he didn’t get hurt and that he wasn’t owed significant injury guarantees.
The Vikings hope he could be the next Darnold: a failed starting quarterback who evolves into a successful one in his stint in Minnesota. Jones can use his short time with the Vikings to audition for the Darnold role in case the current QB1 is departing in the offseason. The franchise surely wants to have an experienced player in case McCarthy can’t go in Week 1 for injury or performance-related reasons.
The QB3 for the Vikes is usually dressed on game days as the emergency passer behind Darnold and Mullens. The Vikings would either need to waive Rypien and hope he passes through waivers to add him to the practice squad or find another player to cut to make room on the 53-man roster for Jones’ promotion.
Jones, 27, has started 69 games in his career, resulting in 14,582 passing yards and 70 touchdowns to 47 interceptions in addition to 2,179 rushing yards and 15 more scores on the ground.
The Vikings’ QB position will be fascinating to watch in the next few months.
Editor’s Note: Information from Pro Football Reference helped with this article.
Janik Eckardt is a football fan who likes numbers and stats. The Vikings became his favorite team despite their quarterback at the time, Christian Ponder. He is a walking soccer encyclopedia, loves watching sitcoms, and prefers Classic rock over other genres. Follow him on Twitter if you like the Vikings: @JanikEckardt