On Sunday afternoon, Daniel Jones was somewhere watching football from his couch. The New York Giants released their former franchise quarterback in a messy divorce. He went from starting on Monday to acting as a scout team safety on Wednesday and asking for his release on Friday.
Nobody would have blamed Jones if he took a weekend to be one of the other 24 million Americans kicking his feet up and enjoying seven hours of commercial-free football. But while Scott Hanson was losing his mind and worshipping The Octobox during the witching hour, Jones may have had his glimpse of his future.
A former New York draft bust, Sam Darnold led what was supposed to be a Mortal Kombat fatality drive on Minnesota’s final possession of regulation. Instead, he answered the bell in overtime, leading the Vikings to a 30-27 victory.
If Jones were smart, he would have sat up and pointed at the TV like Rick Dalton. Because Darnold’s past looks a lot like his, and Jones’ future could look like Darnold’s present.
The Giants took Jones with the sixth-overall pick of the 2019 draft to be Eli Manning‘s heir apparent. However, Darnold was heralded as a top prospect before the New York Jets took him third overall the year before. Meanwhile, pundits questioned selecting Jones after an underwhelming career at Duke.
Jones’ rookie season went well with Saquon Barkley in the backfield. Jones threw for 3,027 yards, 24 touchdowns, and 12 interceptions. However, the Giants never added to his supporting cast. When Barkley tore his ACL in 2020 and injured his left ankle in 2021, Jones was left with Darius Slayton, Sterling Shepard, and Evan Engram as his top targets.
With a suspect offensive line making things worse, Jones compiled a 9-16 record as a starter, throwing 21 touchdowns to 17 interceptions while completing 63.3% of his passes. But it wasn’t just the supporting cast that was bringing Jones down.
Pat Shurmur introduced Jones to the NFL. However, the Giants replaced him with Joe Judge, another Bill Belichick disciple who was in over his head. Using “The Patriot Way” hasn’t worked for many coaches outside New England, and Jones was caught in the crossfire.
The Giants noticed this and sought an offensive mind as their next head coach. Brian Daboll had developed Josh Allen as offensive coordinator with the Buffalo Bills and gave Jones the infrastructure he’s rarely had, leading New York to a 9-6-1 record.
Jones also thrived, cutting down on his bad decisions for a league-leading 1.1% interception rate, and completed 67.2% of his passes while throwing for 3,205 yards, 15 touchdowns, and five picks.
The numbers weren’t eye-popping but were a sample of what Jones could do as the season progressed. The crowning moment came at the expense of the Vikings when Jones became the third quarterback in NFL history, along with Steve Young and Lamar Jackson, to throw for 300 yards and run for 70 yards in a playoff game during an upset at U.S. Bank Stadium. Unfortunately for Jones and the Giants, the rookie-quarterback window slammed in their face.
Jones was set to become a free agent after the team declined his fifth-year option, and the two sides agreed to a four-year, $160 million contract the following spring. Jones never lived up to the deal, partially due to a torn ACL he suffered in November 2023. He threw for 2,979 yards, 10 touchdowns, and 13 interceptions while leading New York to a 3-13 record in the games he played between the 2023 and 2024 seasons.
With general manager Joe Schoen reeling from letting Barkley sign with the rival Philadelphia Eagles and Daboll’s job on the line, the Giants benched Jones. However, the move felt more like giving up on the season as the Giants planned to get out of his contract next spring.
A farewell statement to the fans had the same execution that Jones showed against Donatell’s defense in January 2022. One meeting with John Mara later, Jones was released and is now ready to sign with whomever he chooses, whenever he wants.
The situation resembled Darnold’s two years ago after he was dragged through poor infrastructures with the Jets and the Carolina Panthers. With his career on the line, Darnold went to the place many have gone to revive their careers: underneath the Shanahan/McVay coaching tree.
It’s a place where Baker Mayfield went a couple of years ago after he was exiled out of Cleveland in favor of Deshaun Watson and struggled with the Panthers. A brief stint with McVay and the Los Angeles Rams at the end of the 2022 season helped him earn a one-year deal with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2023. Mayfield took that opportunity and ran with it, throwing for 4,044 yards, 28 touchdowns, and 10 interceptions while leading the Buccaneers to a playoff victory over the Philadelphia Eagles.
Tampa signed Mayfield to a three-year, $100 million contract. He will be their quarterback for the foreseeable future and could be in for another payday as soon as 2026. And that’s the type of success story that Darnold is experiencing after one year of learning under Kyle Shanahan in San Francisco.
Vikings fans were concerned when the team signed Darnold to a one-year, $10 million contract to be their starter to begin the 2024 season. The feeling of doom increased when first-round pick J.J. McCarthy tore his meniscus during a preseason game against the Las Vegas Raiders. While fans braced for a five-to-six-win season, Darnold thrived in his new environment with a coach who supported him and a supporting cast, including Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison, and T.J. Hockenson as his top weapons.
Darnold’s stats are one measure of success. So far in 2024, he’s thrown for 2,717 yards, 21 touchdowns, and 10 interceptions while leading the Vikings to a 9-2 record. However, Sunday’s win over the Bears showed how far he’s come.
With the Vikings holding a 24-16 lead, Darnold engineered an 11-play, 63-yard drive that led to a 26-yard field goal by John Parker Romo that should have finished the game. When the Bears improbably came back to tie it, Darnold led another drive, overcoming a first-and-20 at one point to set up a 29-yard field goal by Romo to win the game.
Last spring, Darnold was still being memed for “seeing ghosts” on Monday Night Football. Darnold is set to get paid this upcoming spring. Spotrac estimates that Darnold could command a four-year, $129 million contract in free agency, and Over The Cap values Darnold’s performance at $34.5 million this season.
That should resonate with Jones, whose career is on the same life-support machine that Darnold’s was a few years ago. While the Vikings don’t need a franchise quarterback, Jones can head to Minnesota, learn under O’Connell, and try to correct some of the bad habits that have manifested over the past four years.
If all goes well, Jones could hit the market either this offseason like Mayfield did after his crash course in 2022 or stick around for a full year behind McCarthy and try and find a job after the 2026 season.
It’s an opportunity that Jones may not afford to pass up, and it makes Darnold’s present look a lot like Jones’ future.
