Desperate Vikings should not trade for $173m QB after warning he is a ‘franchise killer’

Daniel Jones will not fix the Minnesota Vikings. The veteran quarterback has seen his name heavily linked with a move at the trade deadline to Minnesota , which would bring an end to his year-and-a-half tenure as a member of the Indianapolis Colts . The Vikings are very much in the market for a signal caller following their 23-6 Monday Night Football defeat to the Buffalo Bills where they recorded just 178 total yards on the night. Veteran quarterback Carson Wentz, who was in the starting lineup in place of Kyler Murray as he continues to rehab a hamstring injury, put on all-time bad display , completing just 8-of-25 passing for 81 yards and two interceptions. With a QBR of 8.9, he was eventually benched for Max Brosmer, who, despite completing six of his seven pass attempts for 58 yards was unable to find a Vikings receiver in the end zone. Don’t read too much into their 6-2 record on the 2026 NFL season though because the Vikings offense has been woeful all year . According to ESPN Research, Minnesota are the first team to have 6+ wins and 3+ games without a TD over their first 8 games of a season since 1925. Both the Detroit Panthers and the Frankford Yellow Jackets matched that feat. Vikings could pursue Jones If the front office are to keep their superstars happy – Justin Jefferson in particular – then they have no choice but to explore the trade market for a new quarterback. In fact, head coach Kevin O’Connell remained non-committal on the team exhausting all options to do so. The only issue is that they have left themselves very little time to do so with their thumping loss to Buffalo coming on the eve of the season’s trade deadline. A few veteran names have been linked with the NFC North team, including Kirk Cousins from the Las Vegas Raiders, but the Colts may be the most likely to sell up, having conceded early on that they are not in any position to contend for a Super Bowl this year. A potential Jones’ trade from Indianapolis may just become another domino to fall in a Colts fire sale that began when owner Carlie Irsay-Gordon fired general manager Chris Ballard , and led to several high-profile departures from the team, including Quenton Nelson and DeForest Buckner. But there is an argument to be made that the Vikings could actually come off worse in this deal, should an agreement be struck. In 2026, Jones appears to have reverted back to the form that saw him get cut by the New York Giants , where in nine appearances under center, he has completed 60.3 percent of his passes for 1,722 yards for six touchdowns and 10 interceptions with the Colts sitting at 2-7. This is a sharp drop-off from 2025, when he threw for 3,101 passing yards at a career-high 68 percent pass completion rate for 19 touchdowns to just eight interceptions in 13 outings before suffering a season-ending leg injury . Despite this, the Colts still opted to sign the ‘Indiana Jones’ to a two-year, $88 million extension. But this is just what Jones – who has made $173 million in his career to date – does. Daniel Jones performs, earns an extension, and then reverts back to mediocrity The Giants stunned the league when they selected the former Duke product with the sixth overall pick in the 2019 NFL Draft . Despite an underwhelming first three seasons under center, winning just 12 of his first 38 career games, Jones appeared to take a huge leap in Year 4. Having entered the season with the knowledge that the Giants had declined the fifth year option on his contract, he wound up throwing for a career-high 3,205 passing yards on his way to a 9-6-1 record and cementing the G-Men their first playoff appearance since 2016. His 379 total yards and two touchdown performance in the 2022 Wild Card round against the Vikings of all teams secured New York’s first post-season win since Eli Manning had lifted them to Super Bowl XLVI glory in 2010. The Giants brass thought they had found their next Manning, and subsequently penned Jones to a mammoth four-year, $160 million extension, sacrificing Saquon Barkley in the process and having to deal with watching him walk away to NFC East rivals Philadelphia Eagles for nothing. Except, things didn’t go to plan, featuring just six times in 2023 due to injury, and then finding himself benched – and subsequently cut – after 10 outings (two wins) in 2024. Before signing with the Colts in 2025, Jones was on the Vikings’ practice squad and once he was eventually promoted to the active roster during the playoffs, he found himself as the emergency quarterback behind Sam Darnold and Nick Mullens. If he wasn’t deemed to be good enough to start then, and having a bigger sample size of film, what may have changed to make the Vikings front office consider giving him a chance now? The simple answer – sheer desperation. Trading for Jones may just be an act of simply papering over the cracks in Minnesota, who, if recent history is anything to go buy, could find themselves in a very similar, and precarious, position this time next year. He is by no means a long-term option. In fact, he could set the Vikings franchise back years, and cost them superstar talents like Jefferson in the process. Consider this a warning to Minnesota to not let desperation kill the franchise. Sign up for talkSPORT Stateside , the YouTube channel dedicated to passionate US Sports fans. Will Gavin, Brian T. Smith, former NFL star Efe Obada and a collection of special guests debate the biggest talking points across the NFL, soccer, NBA and more.