Vikings signing former Giants quarterback Daniel Jones to practice squad

”I’m just excited to get him here,” O’Connell said. “I think there’s a short-term and a long-term conversation going on at every position on the roster, and that’s what Kwesi [Adofo-Mensah, general manager] and his group and Rob [Brzezinski, executive vice president of football operations] and everybody upstairs does a great job. But the quarterback development side is a huge passion of mine, and I love getting opportunities to work with guys no matter what point in their quarterback journey they’re at.”

His stopover in Minnesota puts him in a quarterback room with Darnold, who used to share MetLife Stadium and the back page of New York tabloids with Jones as the subject of QB intrigue (and scrutiny) after the Jets took him third overall in 2018. Darnold played three seasons in New York and spent time with two other teams before signing a one-year, $10 million deal with the Vikings to replace Kirk Cousins as the starting quarterback this season. He’s posted his best season as a starter in Minnesota, setting a career high with 21 touchdown passes and bumping his completion rate up to 67.6% (nearly six points above his previous best) while leading the Vikings to a 9-2 start.

Darnold’s success — and the potential it brings for a multiyear deal in the spring when he is a free agent — has burnished the Vikings’ reputation as a kind of QB retreat, with a deep coaching staff to develop passers and a full complement of skill position players to work with on Sundays.

”I don’t know what it‘s like in New York, or anything like that, but for him to be able to come in here with this locker room, this coaching staff, just the organization as a whole, we’ve got great people here,” Darnold said. “I’m just excited for him to be able to join this group.”

Jones could benefit from the same infrastructure, though it’s possible he won’t have any in-game work to use as evidence that the short stay in Minnesota helped him reform his game. O’Connell said he talked to each of the four quarterbacks on the Vikings’ roster — Darnold, Nick Mullens, Brett Rypien and McCarthy — about the Jones move, which won’t bring any immediate change to the Vikings’ depth chart.