This offseason the Minnesota Vikings went through a significant amount of change throughout the roster. The most impactful decision was to move on from 14-game winner Sam Darnold.
After flirting with Aaron Rodgers, head coach Kevin O’Connell pretty quickly landed on J.J. McCarthy as the new QB1. The Vikings still needed backup options, however.
Initially, the hope was that late-season acquisition Daniel Jones, after seeing the Darnold experiment work, would stick around in order to let O’Connell breathe life back into his career. Instead, despite the Vikings’ best efforts, he bailed for Indianapolis, in hopes of a better opportunity to start.
New Indianapolis Colts head coach Shane Steichen still has holdover former No. 4 overall pick, Anthony Richardson, on roster. But after witnessing first hand how much the Vikings loved JJ McCarthy, Jones saw a better opportunity to start in Indy. And as it turns out, he may be right.
Daniel Jones zeroing in on Colts starting QB job?
Two weeks of preseason action are now in the books. That means the Colts have just a single exhibition game remaining to determine a starter. Steichen spoke with ESPN’s Stephen Holder recently, where he continued to dance around the elephant in the QB room.
“I’ve seen, obviously, three weeks of it, so I’d like to have a decision here shortly. I’m very close. I’ll say that. I’m very close. You’ve got two first-round draft picks, and when they both came in, I made it very clear that this is going to be a battle, and they’re going to compete for the job. And, like I said, I’m going to make the decision I feel is best for the team.”
Shane Steichen – ESPN
Let’s address the obvious. Indy acquired their “two first round pick” quarterbacks in two very different ways. The fact he’s using that kind of veiled verbiage feels quite telling. thought process on Saturday.
If Jones thought there was no way he was going to earn a starting role, he would have simply re-signed with the Minnesota Vikings. But Daniel Jones felt what we feel when O’Connell talks about McCarthy. He knew the QB1 odds were stacked against him here.
On the contrary, Anthony Richardson hasn’t substantiated himself as a capable NFL starter in either the QB skill or leader department, which left the door open for Jones to swoop in and steal his job. Remember, it was just last year that Richardson asked out of a game.
Related: Insider Tabs MN Vikings Position Group as a Unit to Watch
Through two preseason games, Jones has gotten more work in than Richardson, completing 17-of-32 passes for 245 yards. He hasn’t used his legs at all, but scrambling is part of his game as well. Richardson is 8-of-14 for 94 yards.
The split in playing time might suggest that Richardson is the current leader in the clubhouse, but if that were the case, why wouldn’t Steichen be happy to make that choice official by now? In most cases, teams usually announce their Week 1 starter prior to the final preseason game, at the latest.
The Indianapolis Colts will play their final exhibition game on Saturday against the Cincinnati Bengals. They host the Miami Dolphins on September 7 to kick off the season. The Minnesota Vikings won’t see the Colts this season, but did stomp them 21-13 last year.
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