Daniel Jones came to the Vikings late in the season, but it was heralded as another reclamation project for Kevin O’Connell. What he was able to achieve with Sam Darnold would help earn the veteran a $100 million contract with the Seahawks. People expected him to work with Daniel Jones to have him set up for a payday of his own, but instead, the former Duke Blue Devil left in free agency, leaving the team in the cold.

According to a report from Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated, the former top draft pick of the Giants left the Vikings for one reason: playing time.

Breer writes, “I’m told, picked what he saw as the better chance to win, and keep, a starting job. If he went back to Minnesota and J.J. McCarthy turned the corner in the coming weeks, and maintained the momentum into the spring, given that the Vikings just took him 10th in the 2024 draft, it’d have been hard for Jones to dislodge him from the lineup. Anthony Richardson, conversely, is at the end, rather than the start, of his window to make the team that drafted him his own.”

It is a move that makes sense for Daniel Jones on several fronts. It is a truly fresh start for him as he is looking to earn a starting job once again. And a second point, as Breer explains, is that Anthony Richardson is much closer to losing the starting job for the Colts versus McCarthy with the Vikings.

Daniel Jones and Anthony Richardson will be interesting quarterback battles to watch as the offseason and training camp unfold. Meanwhile, the Vikings will continue to look for a veteran backup for McCarthy.