The Atlanta Falcons signed Emory Jones to prepare for Sunday’s NFL game against the Washington Commanders and Jayden Daniels. They failed to learn from Arizona State’s mistake.
This latest signing corresponds with an identical move from the Sun Devils in 2022. It did not go well.
Before we get into the irony of this move, lets first go back to 2019. Daniels, a four-star prospect, committed to play in Tempe as the top-ranked duel-threat signal-caller in his recruiting class. It was a big get for Arizona State and head coach Herm Edwards.
Daniels went 18-11 in 29 starts for the Sun Devils. He totaled more than 6,000 yards passing and 1,250 yards rushing in three seasons. The California-native eventually transferred to LSU after his third year, won a Heisman and was drafted No. 2 overall by the Commanders.
Daniels’ former teammates at Arizona State cleaned out his locker and talked a lot of trash during a nasty video on Instagram as soon as he announced the decision to leave. Their behavior did not age well.
While Daniels went 10-4 with the Tigers in 2022, the Sun Devils went 3-9. They added Jones through the transfer portal after he spent three seasons at Florida (one as the starter).
To reiterate: Arizona State tried to emulate Jayden Daniels with Emory Jones. The latter went 1-6 as the starter and got benched. It was a failed experiment.
Fast forward to Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. The Falcons are four days out from a Sunday Night Football matchup against the Commanders. Daniels is the starting quarterback for Washington.
To prepare for the presumptive Offensive Rookie of the Year, Atlanta signed…. Emory Jones. He is going to play the role of Daniels during practice.
The Falcons have signed QB Emory Jones to the practice squad. A team representative said Atlanta did so to use Jones on the scout team at practice this week to better simulate Jayden Daniels’ skill set.
— Tori McElhaney (@tori_mcelhaney) December 26, 2024
As we saw just two years ago, Jones is not Daniels. Arizona State tried to emulate Daniels with Jones and it did not work. If that season was any indications, the Falcons are not going to be as prepared for Daniels as they think because Jones has already proved that he cannot do the same things on the field!