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tRY IT NOWDaniel Jones’ glowing praise of Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell and his operation in Minnesota doesn’t exactly reflect well on Brian Daboll and the Giants.
During an appearance on Ryan Fitzpatrick’s and Andrew Whitworth’s “Fitz and Whit” podcast, Jones, now the starting quarterback for the 4-1 Colts, opened up on how his preparation changed when he joined the Vikings last season following his Giants release last November.
“I always thought I worked really hard, I tried to work really hard and it was important for me to prepare, watch film, study. And I think I did that,” Jones said. “But then going to Minnesota, I saw how Sam [Darnold] prepared, how Kevin prepared those guys, [quarterbacks coach] Josh McCown, [then assistant offensive coordinator] Grant Udinski, that crew and how detailed they were day in and day out on every little bit of the plan and how they’re gonna study it, what they’re looking for, walking through it, quizzing each other in the quarterback room. That made a big impression on me and I was like, OK, this is maybe the next level of some of that stuff.”
Jones, 28, later called his time with the Vikings “really valuable.”
Daboll benched Jones for Tommy DeVito last November after the team started 2-8.
In those 10 starts, Jones threw for 2,070 yards, eight touchdowns and seven interceptions.
Jones had a 24-44-1 record across his six seasons with the Giants, throwing for 14,582 yards, 70 touchdowns and 47 interceptions.
He helped lead the Giants to the playoffs in 2022, when he threw for 3,205 yards, 15 touchdowns and five interceptions while rushing for 708 yards and seven more scores in Daboll’s first season as the head coach.
Big Blue defeated the Vikings on the road in the wild-card round before falling to the Eagles.
Jones then signed a four-year, $160 million contract with $81 million guaranteed.
He was 1-5 as a starter in 2023, a season that ended early due to a torn ACL.
Jones signed a one-year, $14 million contract with the Colts during this past offseason and beat out Anthony Richardson for the starting job.
Through five games, Jones has 1,290 yards passing with six touchdowns, two interceptions and a 71.3 completion percentage, along with three rushing touchdowns.