Taking a hard look at Daniel Jones $$

Montana Tom wrote:
Jones has had two contracts in the NFL so far. His first from 2019 was $25,664, 4 years, fully guaranteed. His extension in 2023, as has been well-chronicled was a 4-year $160mm deal, with a total $92mm guaranteed.

So since 2019, he's been able to pocket $117,664,000 +/-, not including the $375,000 he made signing with the Vikings.
He's still young.

I am going to forecast here that in order to reinvigorate his career in the NFL, he will seriously look at a full year studying under KOC and will be ready on a moment's notice to step in if JJM falters.  I'm going out on a limb here that he's going to look at the long game, since he's already made over $100mm and will sign for $5-7mm+/- as the Vikings backup for one year.

Talk about going out on a limb with my prediction...

Man, I don't know. Every time we think a player might be smart and play the long game, they go for the quickest, biggest payday.

I think Dimes will take the most straight cash he can get. It’s all about getting as much $$ as fast as possible because he could shred his knee or shoulder tomorrow and it would all be gone.

It’s also why I doubt Sammy is back. I think he’ll get starter money elsewhere.

MaroonBells wrote:

Man, I don't know. Every time we think a player might be smart and play the long game, they go for the quickest, biggest payday.

It's because basically there isn't a long game in the NFL (Not For Long). Injury can end a career instantly. Guys have to get the most they can when they can. And I don't begrudge them a penny of it. They put their long term health at risk to entertain us.

StickierBuns wrote:

This.

Yup. To stay here he would take less money, less guaranteed money, a shorter deal, and very likely a stated stance from the team that he could be benched for JJM at any time.

There are too many reasons why Sam in purple doesn't make sense. If they bring him back then why did they bother burning a top 10 pick on JJM?

Sitting won't develop the kid any more than it would have developed Daniels or Maye or any guy from the 2024 class. The sooner he sees the field the better.

Anyone checked Daniel Jones stats? Had a good rookie year and then his production is basically on par with Sam Darnold's early career production in terms of stats and wins.

I don't think anyone will be beating down his door and offering him a big deal. I think he's firmly in the failed first round pick territory and his market will reflect that.

MAD GAINZ wrote:
Anyone checked Daniel Jones stats?  Had a good rookie year and then his production is basically on par with Sam Darnold's early career production in terms of stats and wins.

I don't think anyone will be beating down his door and offering him a big deal.  I think he's firmly in the failed first round pick territory and his market will reflect that.

Agree, his market is low and he's definitely a failed 1st rounder. But have you seen the QB situation on about 7 or 8 teams? As bad as he is, Jones would be an upgrade on all of them. And don't forget he spent a few months in the Kevin O'Connell QB School for the Blind. That might carry some weight. 

I hope not. I want him to stay and be our backup. But I think he gets some attention.

MAD GAINZ wrote:
Anyone checked Daniel Jones stats?  Had a good rookie year and then his production is basically on par with Sam Darnold's early career production in terms of stats and wins.

I don't think anyone will be beating down his door and offering him a big deal.  I think he's firmly in the failed first round pick territory and his market will reflect that.

I tend to agree,  he has been relatively unimpressive for his career,  and even that rookie year wasnt super special.  He can start in a pinch,  maybe fill in for a few weeks,  but hes not a guy a smart GM is going to hitch their wagon to.  With that said,  i do see a bigger offer for him than what Minny should offer so i think hed be stupid to stay.

Aside from Sam,  what has KOC really done?  Kirk was still Kork,  in the end Sam was still Seeing Ghosts,  i think KOC is a good coach,  but he hasnt really shown to have special abilities in turning around careers,  sam may prove that wrong,  but my money says he reverts to his mean going forward.

JimmyinSD wrote:

I tend to agree,  he has been relatively unimpressive for his career,  and even that rookie year wasnt super special.  He can start in a pinch,  maybe fill in for a few weeks,  but hes not a guy a smart GM is going to hitch their wagon to.  With that said,  i do see a bigger offer for him than what Minny should offer so i think hed be stupid to stay.

Aside from Sam,  what has KOC really done?  Kirk was still Kork,  in the end Sam was still Seeing Ghosts,  i think KOC is a good coach,  but he hasnt really shown to have special abilities in turning around careers,  sam may prove that wrong,  but my money says he reverts to his mean going forward.

Before Kirks Achillis injury, his numbers I believe were best in the NFL in year two under KOC. It was our defense that was crap. He was looking to have his greatest year and he was sharp. I am happy with the decision that we decided to go, but he was playing his best football of his career before the injury under KOC.

Canthony wrote:

Before Kirks Achillis injury, his numbers I believe were best in the NFL in year two under KOC. It was our defense that was crap. He was looking to have his greatest year and he was sharp. I am happy with the decision that we decided to go, but he was playing his best football of his career before the injury under KOC.

That's accurate. He was leading the league in TDs, 2nd in yards, and much of that with JJ hurt. Given how many painful drops (with some being bobbled into INTs) KJ, TJ, and Mattison had early in the season...and with our patented terrible IOL protection...that's damned impressive.

JimmyinSD wrote:

I tend to agree,  he has been relatively unimpressive for his career,  and even that rookie year wasnt super special.  He can start in a pinch,  maybe fill in for a few weeks,  but hes not a guy a smart GM is going to hitch their wagon to.  With that said,  i do see a bigger offer for him than what Minny should offer so i think hed be stupid to stay.

Aside from Sam,  what has KOC really done?  Kirk was still Kork,  in the end Sam was still Seeing Ghosts,  i think KOC is a good coach,  but he hasnt really shown to have special abilities in turning around careers,  sam may prove that wrong,  but my money says he reverts to his mean going forward.

Winning 2 games with Josh Dobbs at QB was more impressive then his work with Kirko or Darnold.

StickierBuns wrote:
I think the Vikings very much want Daniel Jones in Minnesota. KOC has been doing a ton of interviews all week and said in a PFT one: “I have a lot of confidence that Daniel could have a ton of success in our offense," O'Connell said Feb. 7 on Pro Football Talk. "I can’t tell you how many times Justin or Jordan or one of these guys at a practice would say ‘that was an unbelievable throw. This guy can really throw it.’ "

Danny Dimes is a big, strapping elite armed mobile guy. I'm sure KOC would love to 2.0 him like he did Darnold, at least in maybe a comp with JJM. Lots of stuff coming in March that will lay the direction for Minnesota. Then there's this from an ex-Giants coach about how they failed Jones:

https://giantswire.usatoday.com/2025/02/08/ex-new-york-giants-coach-says-team-failed-daniel-jones/

Listen, McCarthy isn't afraid to compete. The rumor now is that there was a legit competition between Sam and JJ before JJ's injury. Jones and Darnold are TALENTED passers, seriously. You can't name many, if any, that have better physical abilities of these two. But there's more to the game obviously. My point is McCarthy can compete physically as well, that's the cool part.

I keep posting FA is going to be more interesting than the draft and thats just a mos away. 

They sure did fail Jones and I dont care how good Neighba is, they had a chance at one of the QB's from what looks like an historically good rookie crop and passed at #6. 

IMO it was also a mistake keeping Daboll. Other than that, hats off to em. 

Now what are they going to do? Throw $100mm at Darnold? Hope for Shedeur?

That giantswire article is another warning to the Vikings: GET THE FUGGIN' IOL SHORED UP. If our QBs are having to watch the pass rush more than the coverages, their eyes can't be downfield enough to get the consistency we need.

Zanary wrote:
That giantswire article is another warning to the Vikings: GET THE FUGGIN' IOL SHORED UP. If our QBs are having to watch the pass rush more than the coverages, their eyes can't be downfield enough to get the consistency we need.

Hearing KOC call out a particular personnel group for upgrades doesn't happen often. I think its clearly on his radar. But what they can do about it? I dont know cause lots of teams in this position and lots of teams with big $$ to spend.

Much as I want to surround JJM with as much as possible, IOL is still (imo) secondary to the d backfield.

" The rumor now is that there was a legit competition between Sam and JJ before JJ's injury. "
I don't know anything about the rumor, but I am convcinced JJ would have started day one last season were it not for the injury.
I would like to see the competition between Jones and JJ this year and am convinced JJ will start day one!
That allows the Vikings to follow their plan and afford to fix their positions of need including the IOL. JJ will need a run game.

hogjowlsjohnny wrote:
" The rumor now is that there was a legit competition between Sam and JJ before JJ's injury. " I don't know anything about the rumor, but I am convcinced JJ would have started day one last season were it not for the injury. I would like to see the competition between Jones and JJ this year and am convinced JJ will start day one! That allows the Vikings to follow their plan and afford to fix their positions of need including the IOL. JJ will need a run game.

We'll never know obviously and there seems to be two lines of thinking about it:

Your take
vs
Vikings were transparent that they had a plan and were not going to rush JJ into the line-up. Or even play him much if at all yr 1. 

Not unless Darnold got hurt. It all circled back to their philosophy of avoiding dirty hands. All just fancy words? Maybe...

Looking back at the season, I thought after/during that Jax game he might have seen some play time if healthy. But by then Darnold was also leading the league in key categories. 

Either way, I got my season tix's worth of entertainment 2 of the last 3 years so I was ok with how it unfolded.

KOC could turn Danny Dimes into Temu Josh Allen.

JustInTime wrote:
KOC could turn Danny Dimes into Temu Josh Allen.

I dont disagree with this...ITs one of the reasons I am so bulllish on JJM. If the Vikings ever get a D and running game that grades like their passing offense? I may see a Lombardi b4 I am on the wrong side of dirt.

purplefaithful wrote:

I dont disagree with this...ITs one of the reasons I am so bulllish on JJM. If the Vikings ever get a D and running game that grades like their passing offense? I may see a Lombardi b4 I am on the wrong side of dirt.

That's the hope, right? 1B4IDie.

While I don’t think QB development is easy, I do think there’s a minimal threshold that it seems like bad teams struggle to overcome.

For at least a couple years I’ve maintained that the best way to build a team is:
• Hire an offensive head coach that knows how to develop a QB. Even with a good defensive HC, your OC will be changing too frequently for a steady environment and offense is king.
• Always be focusing on your offense. You shouldn’t be rebuilding your offense from scratch, because you want your QB to come into a system that can support them. Even when you are talking about fixing your cap, you should be doing it within the context of maintaining offensive quality. If you have to bring in a young QB, spare no expense in getting the OLine squared away with veterans.
• Always be ready to draft a QB. I believe in drafting the QBs that are available to you within a small trade up. I don’t believe in massive trade ups. There’s a huge amount of failure in the tier of premium QB draft prospects and the best QBs are often available where you are. You’re better off getting multiple shots, than one big shot. The problem with QBs is that the good ones are available when they are available, not when you need them. You need to accept that if a good one is available, you should draft them, even though everyone and their mom will call it a waste that you got a QB even though you already have a QB. If you wait until you need need them, there’s a reasonable chance that you might just have a year like this year where no good prospects are available, or there’s only 1-2 QBs available and they go 1-2 and you’re drafting 3rd or whatever with no chance to trade up.
• Ignore your defense. Obviously don’t completely ignore your defense, but offense is King, and you need to maximize your QBs chance for success at all costs. Whatever sacrifices you need to make should come at the defenses expense. When the time comes to push your chips in, it’s easier to just acquire defenders than it is to fix a broken offense around an inexperienced QB. There’s just no excuse for teams to build a defense first roster in this day and age. You’re just not going to win a SB with your dominant defense and subpar QB situation.

I don’t understand why some teams struggle so much. Even though many people probably disagree with me on my QB take, I don’t think anyone really disagrees with getting your QB protection and skill players, so how do these teams end up in such bad spots?