Quarterback is the league's most important position, so it's a little surprising to see that nearly a quarter of the league's teams have no idea who their starter will be in 2025. That makes a lot of modest veterans look like Week 1 starters.
Maybe "no idea" is too strong; some teams at least have an option on the roster, albeit an undesirable one. But there are seven teams who we can't say for sure who the starter will be. The Giants, Jets, Steelers, Browns and Raiders don't have a great option under contract. The Colts say they'll be looking at someone to compete with Anthony Richardson, and the Titans will surely have an alternative available to Will Levis. The Saints will probably be starting Derek Carr, while the Vikings will probably be putting J.J. McCarthy in the lineup. But a lot of uncertain situations.
Free agent options go from pretty certain to be starting somewhere (Sam Darnold) to possible but really unappealing (Jacoby Brissett, Marcus Mariota and Carson Wentz). Somewhere in the middle of that are guys like Russell Wilson, Justin Fields and Daniel Jones.
The Giants dumped Jones, but few would contend it's because the guys they put on the field after doing so (Drew Lock, Tommy DeVito, Tim Boyle) were better. We know he won't be with the Giants, but it's definitely possible he'll be back in New York, with the Jets. The Colts and the Browns could be considered reasonable landing spots as well. Regardless, I think he'll be a Week 1 starter -- more potential and upside than a lot of well-traveled veterans.
As recently as 2022, Jones went 9-6 and led the Giants to the playoffs, with a postseason win over the Vikings. He was a top-12 quarterback in typical fantasy scoring systems that season, with his running a big factor. Then he got hurt in 2023 and benched in 2024 before being released. But there's still some fantasy appeal, if he is indeed starting somewhere.
In 2023 and 2024 combined, Jones started 16 games, so basically a full season. He didn't do much winning (3-13, ugh) but continued to hold some serviceable fantasy value. Combine his numbers from those years into one 16-game season, as I've done in the table below, and Jones would have ranked... 19th among quarterbacks. So not a great starter, but a serviceable No. 2 or decent Superflex option. And that's while throwing a pitiful 10 touchdowns. Put him in a slightly better offense and get him up to throwing a touchdown per game while still running his usual amount, and maybe he's a top-15 quarterback.
| JONES '23-'24 AND 2024 QUARTERBACKS (10+STARTS) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | GS | Pass | TD | Int | Run | TD | Pts |
| Lamar Jackson | 17 | 4172 | 41 | 4 | 915 | 4 | 490.1 |
| Joe Burrow | 17 | 4918 | 43 | 9 | 201 | 2 | 450.0 |
| Baker Mayfield | 17 | 4500 | 41 | 16 | 378 | 3 | 446.8 |
| Josh Allen | 17 | 3731 | 28 | 6 | 531 | 12 | 432.4 |
| Jayden Daniels | 17 | 3568 | 25 | 9 | 891 | 6 | 409.5 |
| Jared Goff | 17 | 4629 | 37 | 12 | 56 | 0 | 394.8 |
| Sam Darnold | 17 | 4319 | 35 | 12 | 212 | 1 | 383.2 |
| Bo Nix | 17 | 3775 | 29 | 12 | 430 | 4 | 379.0 |
| Kyler Murray | 17 | 3851 | 21 | 11 | 572 | 5 | 365.8 |
| Jalen Hurts | 15 | 2903 | 18 | 5 | 630 | 14 | 364.2 |
| Patrick Mahomes | 16 | 3928 | 26 | 11 | 307 | 2 | 344.3 |
| Geno Smith | 17 | 4320 | 21 | 15 | 272 | 2 | 339.2 |
| Brock Purdy | 15 | 3864 | 20 | 12 | 323 | 5 | 335.5 |
| Justin Herbert | 17 | 3870 | 23 | 3 | 306 | 2 | 334.1 |
| Aaron Rodgers | 17 | 3897 | 28 | 11 | 107 | 0 | 321.6 |
| Caleb Williams | 17 | 3541 | 20 | 6 | 489 | 0 | 312.0 |
| Jordan Love | 15 | 3389 | 25 | 11 | 83 | 1 | 289.8 |
| C.J. Stroud | 17 | 3727 | 20 | 12 | 233 | 0 | 289.7 |
| Daniel Jones 23-24 | 16 | 3526 | 10 | 13 | 471 | 3 | 281.4 |
| Matthew Stafford | 16 | 3762 | 20 | 8 | 41 | 0 | 272.2 |
| Kirk Cousins | 14 | 3508 | 18 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 247.4 |
| Bryce Young | 12 | 2403 | 15 | 9 | 249 | 6 | 241.1 |
| Drake Maye | 12 | 2276 | 15 | 10 | 421 | 2 | 231.9 |
| Tua Tagovailoa | 11 | 2867 | 19 | 7 | 49 | 0 | 228.3 |
| Russell Wilson | 11 | 2482 | 16 | 5 | 155 | 2 | 215.6 |
| Anthony Richardson | 11 | 1814 | 8 | 12 | 499 | 6 | 211.5 |
| Derek Carr | 10 | 2145 | 15 | 5 | 71 | 1 | 182.4 |
| Trevor Lawrence | 10 | 2045 | 11 | 7 | 119 | 3 | 181.7 |
| Will Levis | 12 | 2091 | 13 | 12 | 183 | 0 | 176.9 |
As for where guys are likely to end up, tough to say. It's in the realm of possibility that last year's main New York starters switch teams, with Aaron Rodgers joining the Giants and Jones going to the Jets. The Jets' current in-house option is Tyrod Taylor, who I suppose is arguably better than Jones (he's also eight years older). Currently picking 3rd (Giants) and 7th (Jets), both teams are reportedly interested in selecting one of the Draft's top quarterbacks, Cam Ward or Shedeur Sanders, probably with a trade up necessary.
I'm not going to stump too hard for Jones. But I think he's pretty likely to be a Week 1 starter, and has some -- some -- potential to be a top-15 fantasy quarterback. Nothing to get too excited about, but considering the number of teams in need of a quarterback and the dearth of stronger options available, not one to dismiss, either. Put him with the Browns or Steelers throwing to a couple of decent weapons and running around some, and there's potential value.
--Andy Richardson