Zulgad: Could Daniel Jones be the latest QB reclamation project for Kevin O'Connell?
The Vikings coach has helped former Jet Sam Darnold get his career back on track. Now there appears to be a chance that the former Giants QB will look to O'Connell to do the same for him.
Kevin O’Connell had every chance to quash the discussion about the Vikings pursuing Daniel Jones when given the opportunity during his Monday press conference. Adam Schefter of ESPN reported Sunday that “the Baltimore Ravens and Minnesota Vikings are two of the likeliest teams to land the free-agent quarterback,” and Schefter’s colleague, Kevin Seifert, the dean of the Vikings beat, asked Minnesota’s coach about the potential interest.
“I’m not going to really get into that today, but I will say (that I have) tons of respect for Daniel Jones as a player and a person,” O’Connell said. “I got to know him through the draft process years ago, and I’m sure now that he’s a free agent and there’s probably a ton of league-wide interest in him, Daniel is going to make the decision that’s best for him and his career moving forward.
“I’m sure he’s working through that process right now, but I really can’t get into too much about any short-term or long-term. I can just say that I’ve been a fan of Daniel’s for a long time and hope wherever his next stop takes him it’s a good opportunity for him.”
Sounds like O’Connell would like to make Jones his next quarterback reclamation project. Some people collect cars, some people collect quarterbacks.
Exactly how this might look remains to be seen — assuming Jones signs with the Vikings — and there’s a variety of directions in which this could be headed given Jones’ representatives only gained the ability to (legally) talk to teams when he cleared waivers at 3 p.m. Monday.
Baltimore played the Chargers on Monday night, so there’s a chance Jones’ camp will wait until Tuesday to talk to the Ravens. There also have been other teams thrown out as potential landing spots, including the Lions, 49ers and Dolphins.
The Vikings appear set with having J.J. McCarthy start at quarterback next season after the 10th pick in last April’s draft missed his rookie year because of a knee injury suffered in the exhibition opener. But could that put the 27-year-old Jones in the role of Sam Darnold? Darnold is playing this season on a one-year, $10 million contract and he’s playing better than anyone outside of TCO Performance Center expected.
Darnold almost certainly has earned himself a multi-year contract with a team that plans on having him start in 2025. It’s highly unlikely Darnold would have interest in returning to Minnesota to compete with McCarthy, and it’s equally as unlikely the Vikings would be willing to pay him what he stands to get on the free agent market.
So why would Jones want to sign a short-term contract with a team for which he would be a long shot to start? The answer is simple: He’s seen what O’Connell has done with Darnold, not to mention what O’Connell got out of Kirk Cousins, and has decided that in order to get his career back on track he would rather learn under O’Connell than be put in a situation to fail because a team throws him in as its starter.