Daniel Jones' Vikings Contract Praised as Smart Move by NFL Fans amid Playoff Push

Sitting just one game behind the Detroit Lions in the NFC North standings, the Minnesota Vikings solidified their quarterback room by bringing in Daniel Jones to be Sam Darnold's backup.

Per Jordan Schultz of Fox Sports, Jones intends to sign with the Vikings after he was released by the New York Giants.

In an ideal world for the Vikings, they won't need to play Jones for the rest of the season because Darnold stays healthy and remains effective. If something were to happen, though, they have given themselves a high-level backup option with extensive starting experience.

The addition of Jones was praised by NFL fans and analysts as a smart, low-risk move for a Vikings team that is squarely in the mix for the No. 1 seed in the NFC playoffs.

Minnesota has done a great job with its quarterback room dating back to the offseason. It started in free agency by signing Darnold to a one-year, $10 million contract

Darnold's deal gave the Vikings the luxury of having a bridge quarterback if they weren't able to land their guy in the first round of the draft. It turns out they did land their guy by taking J.J. McCarthy at No. 10 overall, but his season ended on Aug. 10 when he suffered a torn meniscus in a preseason win over the Las Vegas Raiders.

Even though the loss of a year does set McCarthy's development back, Darnold has been everything the Vikings hoped for when they signed him. He has already set a career-high with 21 touchdown passes and is on pace to have his highest yards per game (247.0) and completion percentage (67.6) this season.

Despite the success Darnold has had, there are still moments when he shows why he struggled early in his career. His turnover-worthy play rate is still higher than you would like, but he has also been one of the better quarterbacks in big-time throw rate.

Jones doesn't exactly have a reputation of being careful with the football, but his skill set is more suited to being successful in the NFL than Minnesota's current backup, Nick Mullens.

The likelihood is Jones only sees the field in garbage time for the Vikings, then hits free agency in the offseason. But he could earn himself another contract from Minnesota because the team will need to figure out its backup situation after this season with Darnold likely to price himself out of the club's range and uncertainty about McCarthy because he hasn't played in a game that counts since leading Michigan to the national title in January.