As the Vikings wrapped up practice on Friday at TCO Performance Center, a new face sporting a No. 13 jersey caught the eye of everybody in attendance.
It was newly signed quarterback Daniel Jones. He gathered joined the Vikings’ three other quarterbacks — starter Sam Darnold, backup Nick Mullens and reserve Brett Rypien — shooting the breeze before taking a few minutes to chat with reporters.
“I’m excited to be here,” Jones said. “Just looking to help out and be a part of this team.”
After being granted his release by the New York Giants last week, Jones took time to survey his options, then ultimately decided to sign with the Vikings this week. A big factor in his decision was getting to work with head coach Kevin O’Connell.
“His system has been successful,” Jones said. “Just being a part of that and learning from him and his whole staff was a great opportunity for me.”
It will be a new playbook for Jones, and he said he’s looking forward to diving in as soon as possible.
“It’s about putting in the time to learn it,” Jones said. “These guys are game-planning and focusing on winning, so I don’t want to slow anything down with that. It’s on me to catch up and take the time outside of meetings and outside of practice to learn it. That’s what I’ll do.”
There won’t be much pressure on Jones in the short term. If everything goes according to plan, he won’t play at any point this season. That should give him a chance to reset mentally before thinking about the next step in his career.
“We’re going to get him pieced together little by little in our system,” O’Connell said. “Our jobs are to put him the best possible situation to improve and keep growing, and that’s what we’re going to do.”
Though he admitted that it’s been a crazy couple of weeks for him, Jones is looking forward to getting a fresh start.
“Just a lot of good things happening across the board,” Jones said. “I’m excited to join that and help out wherever I can.”
Briefly
After missing practice this week, tight end Josh Oliver (ankle) and safety Jay Ward (elbow) have been ruled out by the Vikings heading into Sunday’s game against the Arizona Cardinals at U.S. Bank Stadium. The only other player with an injury designation is left tackle Cam Robinson (foot), and he will go in as questionable.
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