{"id":245438,"date":"2025-09-07T15:28:44","date_gmt":"2025-09-07T19:28:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=245438"},"modified":"2025-09-08T11:32:36","modified_gmt":"2025-09-08T15:32:36","slug":"__trashed-15","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2025\/09\/07\/__trashed-15\/","title":{"rendered":"Will Colts Veteran Pull a Sam Darnold This Season?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Daniel Jones is off to an excellent start to his tenure with the Indianapolis Colts. The veteran quarterback could revive his Indy career like Sam Darnold did with the Minnesota Vikings<\/a> last season.<\/p>\n

Darnold was Jones\u2019 teammate in Minnesota last season. He was a high draft pick who struggled early on in his career. Yet, he later ditched the \u201cbust\u201d label and emerged as a star quarterback.<\/p>\n

The New York Giants<\/a> selected Daniel Jones with the sixth overall pick in the 2019 NFL Draft. He was supposed to develop into the team\u2019s franchise QB. But that never quite came to fruition.<\/p>\n

Jones did have a good season, though, in 2022. That year, he threw for 3,2015 yards and 15 touchdowns. He also rushed for 708 yards and seven scores. More importantly, Jones led the Giants to the postseason. He even helped the team win a playoff game against the Vikings.<\/p>\n

Jones\u2019 performance in 2022 landed him a massive $160 million<\/a> contract extension. Unfortunately, his career went downhill after that. Last season, the Giants benched him and subsequently released him. He signed with the Vikings, although he never played a game for them as he backed up Darnold.<\/p>\n

Will Colts Quarterback Daniel Jones Pull a Sam Darnold This Season?<\/h2>\n
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Sep 7, 2025; Indianapolis, Indiana, USA; Indianapolis Colts quarterback Daniel Jones (17) celebrates with offensive tackle Bernhard Raimann (79) after a touchdown during the first half at Lucas Oil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Revisiting Sam Darnold\u2019s Career<\/h3>\n

The New York Jets<\/a> selected Darnold third overall in the 2018 NFL Draft. He would only play three seasons in New York before being traded to the Carolina Panthers<\/a> in 2021.<\/p>\n

After two seasons in Carolina and one with the San Francisco 49ers, Darnold signed a deal with the Vikings in 2024. He was expected to hold down the fort until rookie J.J. McCarthy was ready to take over. However, McCarthy suffered a torn meniscus<\/a>, forcing him to miss the entire year.<\/p>\n

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Darnold went on to have a great 2024 season. He was selected to the Pro Bowl for the first time after passing for a career-high 4,319 passing yards and 35 touchdowns. He led the Vikings to a 14-3 record, although they lost<\/a> to the Los Angeles Rams in the playoffs.<\/p>\n

This past offseason, Darnold left Minnesota and signed with the Seattle Seahawks. He replaced quarterback Gino Smith, who was traded<\/a> to the Las Vegas Raiders.<\/p>\n

Could Daniel Jones Revive His Career in Indy?<\/h3>\n

The Colts signed Daniel Jones this offseason to compete with Anthony Richardson<\/a>. Many people thought Richardson would win the starting quarterback job. However, Jones wound up becoming QB1 instead.<\/p>\n

Jones was spectacular in the Colts’ Week 1 win<\/a> over the Miami Dolphins. He completed 22 of his 29 pass attempts for 272 yards. He also had three total touchdowns (one passing and two rushing).<\/p>\n

If Jones continues to play like that, he could certainly revive his career in Indianapolis. Remember, it took six years for Darnold to turn things around. He was far from a superstar during his time with the Jets, Panthers, and 49ers. But he finally got the job done once he landed in Minnesota.<\/p>\n

Sometimes, a change of scenery makes a huge difference. Daniel Jones is surrounded by offensive weapons like Jonathan Taylor, Michael Pittman Jr., and rookie Tyler Warren, who\u2019s primed to be a Rookie of the Year candidate<\/a>. Don\u2019t be surprised to see Jones turn things around this year.<\/p>\n

Main Image: Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New Indianapolis Colts quarterback Daniel Jones could have a season like Sam Darnold did last year with the Minnesota Vikings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4890,"featured_media":245629,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[36,12],"tags":[9564,4688,7800,1535],"class_list":["post-245438","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl-news","category-colts","tag-anthony-richardson","tag-daniel-jones","tag-indianapolis-colts-news","tag-sam-darnold"],"modified_by":"Drew Crabtree","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245438","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4890"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=245438"}],"version-history":[{"count":31,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245438\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":245633,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245438\/revisions\/245633"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/245629"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=245438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=245438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=245438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}