Will Daniel Jones be Vikings' No. 2 quarterback for playoff game against Rams?
After spending the past six weeks on the practice squad, the quarterback has been elevated to the 53-man roster and could move past Nick Mullens as the backup for Monday night's game.
Could Daniel Jones be one snap away from making his Vikings’ debut in a playoff game?
That might be the case after coach Kevin O’Connell did not close the door on Jones being the backup to Sam Darnold for Monday night’s playoff game against the Los Angeles Rams. Nick Mullens has served as the backup all season and Brett Rypien had been the No. 3, or emergency, quarterback on game day.
Jones, the sixth pick in the 2019 NFL draft, spent the final six weeks of the regular season on the Vikings’ practice squad after being granted his release from the New York Giants in late November. He was signed to the active roster this week and Rypien was placed on waivers before joining the Vikings’ practice squad. The move on Jones was made in part because his elevation will make him part of the NFL’s formula for handing out compensatory 2026 draft picks, if he signs elsewhere this offseason.
But that might not have been the only reason.
O’Connell was asked during his Thursday press conference if Jones was at a point where he might consider having him be more than the third quarterback.
“He definitely has progressed,” O’Connell said. “He’s gotten a lot of really good work in both running scout team looks and then just extra work here and there when we can. … The best way I can put it is we’re doing everything we can to get Sam ready to go, but at the same time, whether it’s Nick or Daniel or Brett, all those guys are absorbing the game plan and it’s just a fluid thing here for the rest of the way. We’re going to do whatever we think gives us the best chance to win.”
O’Connell, asked if that meant Jones might be the No. 2 quarterback on Monday, said: “We’re going to do whatever gives us the best chance to win here the rest of the way.”
The easy response for O’Connell would have been to say that Mullens is the backup and that isn’t going to change. The fact he didn’t means that O’Connell and his coaching staff appear to be discussing a move behind Darnold. That move could put Mullens into the emergency quarterback role.
The question is was this planned, or did Darnold’s subpar performance in the Vikings’ regular-season finale in Sunday’s loss in Detroit cause O’Connell to rethink his QB depth chart?