The Minnesota Vikings have many difficult questions to answer this offseason before they prepare for the 2025 season. One that no one is talking about is, “Will Daniel Jones be back in Minnesota in 2025?”
The road to the NFL has certainly been a bumpy one for former first-round pick Daniel Jones. Taken sixth overall in the 2019 NFL Draft by the New York Giants, there was an expectation that Jones would come in and return the Giants to the glory and success they experienced under Eli Manning.
It’s hard to expect a Super Bowl, let alone multiple, from any quarterback, but the Giants and their fans certainly expected more success and return on investment than what they got from Jones. Over parts of six seasons in New York, Jones only achieved a winning record once, going 9-6-1 that season in his starts.
Jones never made the playoffs with the Giants, and was unceremoniously released from the team midway through the 2024 season. It was then that he landed in Minnesota with purported quarterback whisperer Kevin O’Connell. O’Connell was instrumental in the turnaround Sam Darnold experienced this season in Minnesota.
With Jones hitting free agency, can he experience a similar career turnaround after a short stay in Minnesota? Will the Vikings bring Jones back to be a backup for J.J. McCarthy? What sort of salary can Jones command on the free agent market?
For an answer to that last question, we can look to Over the Cap, who currently has Jones projected to command a contract of just over $13.3 million. That’s clearly backup money, but would be significantly more than the $1.125 million base salary Jones had with the Vikings in 2024.
As for the question of whether or not Jones will be back with the team next season, it’s hard to say. Jones could be looking for an opportunity to become a starter again — one that he won’t have with the Vikings, at least not to start the season.
The demand for Jones as a starter may not be high, which could ultimately result in a return to Minnesota later on in the free agency period. It could be good for both Jones and McCarthy to have some continuity at the position, and for Jones to have a full season under the tutelage of O’Connell.
With more than $60 million in projected cap space, the Vikings have plenty of room to make a deal happen with Jones, should they want to bring him back.