Saquon Barkley smiling over Daniel Jones’ hot start as ex-Giants teammates having success outside of New York

PHILADELPHIA — There may not be a player happier for Daniel Jones‘ success than Saquon Barkley. 

When even bringing up Jones in conversation, Barkley couldn’t let go the smile on his face. The friends may not be teammates anymore, but they still keep in touch. 

“Daniel Jones! Let’s go! That’s my dawg!” Barkley said. “I gotta FaceTime him (more). He texts me and says I never answer my phone calls.”

Barkley made sure he was available to FaceTime his friend and former New York Giants teammate Sunday, an afternoon in which Jones, now starting for the Indianapolis Colts, completed 23 of 34 passes for 316 yards with a touchdown in Indianapolis’ thrilling 29-28 win over the Denver Broncos. The Colts are off to a 2-0 start, and Jones has been a significant reason why. 

Through two games, Jones has completed 71.4% of his passes for 588 yards with two touchdowns and zero interceptions for an 111.1 passer rating — nearly 20 points higher than his previous career-high of 92.5 (2022). Jones leads the NFL in yards per attempt (9.3), is second in pass yards per game (294.0), third in yards per completion (13.1) and tied for the league lead in interception rate (0.0%).

The Colts aren’t being conservative with Jones either. He beat out Anthony Richardson for the starting job, and is far from a game manager. 

“The fact that he’s off to a hot start… Seeing what he went through throughout camp, battling with AR [Richardson] over there, I was super excited for him to win that starting job,” Barkley said. “To go out there and play at a high level now and get to show people the player that I know, the person that I know.”

Jones and Barkley were together in New York for five seasons, only having success one year together despite taking the burden of the Giants failures above them. That 2022 season was special for Jones and Barkley, as both had career seasons as the Giants advanced to the playoffs and upset the Minnesota Vikings in the wild card round. 

Jones had the lowest interception rate in the league in that 2022 season (1.1%), reaching career highs in completion percentage (67.2%), passing yards (3,205) and passer rating (92.5). He also added career highs in rushing yards (708) and rushing touchdowns (seven). 

Jones cashed in on that 2022 season with a four-year, $160 million contract extension from the Giants. The extension ended up being a disaster for New York, though, as Jones struggled mightily in the years that followed.

Of the 57 quarterbacks that threw 300-plus attempts from 2023 to 2024, Jones was 42nd in completion rate (63.3%), 54th in touchdown rate (2.3%), 54th in yards per attempt (6.1), and 53rd in passer rating (79.4). Injuries didn’t help Jones either, but the marriage in New York ended with Jones being a safety on the scout team in a walkthrough practice before being released. 

Jones spent the remainder of the 2024 season on the practice squad of the Minnesota Vikings before signing a one-year deal with the Colts this offseason. The journey to success has been bumpy for Jones, and there’s no one that has witnessed it firsthand more than Barkley.

Both players have found success outside of New York, with Barkley rushing for an NFL record 2,504 yards (including postseason) en route to an Super Bowl championship in his first season with the Philadelphia Eagles. And if the early returns with the Colts are any indication, Jones appears headed toward success of his own.

“Outside of the Philadelphia Eagles and myself, I don’t want anyone else to perform at a high level besides Daniel Jones,” Barkley said. “I’m a big believer in anything. It might not happen in football, but the way he carries himself and the way that he works and the way that he competes — it’s gonna show at some point. 

“Happy that’s starting to show right now.”