The Colts are betting on former New York Giants castoff Daniel Jones creating a legitimate quarterback competition, but will this be a case of buyer’s remorse?
According to CBS Sports Garrett Podell, newly signed Indianapolis Colts quarterback Daniel Jones is among the ‘winners’ of the NFL’s 2025 free agency and early offseason:
Winner: New Indianapolis Colts QB Daniel Jones
Daniel Jones has been riding the struggle bus on the football field and popping bottles of champagne off of it lately. The 2024 season marked the fourth time in the last five seasons he has started each of his team’s first 10 games and had fewer than 10 touchdown passes. That’s something all other NFL quarterbacks have done four times total in the last five years, per CBS Sports Research. Jones has also gone 58 consecutive starts without throwing three or more touchdowns in a game, which is the longest streak in the last 30 seasons, per CBS Sports Research.
Despite the on-field issues and the New York Giants eating a $22 million dead cap hit in 2025 for releasing him midseason in 2024, Jones still landed a one-year, $14 million contract with $13.15 million fully guaranteed from the Indianapolis Colts to compete with Anthony Richardson. Nothing Jones has done on the field is worth over $13 million guaranteed, but he and his agent stay winning.
“Originally the 6th overall pick of the 2019 NFL Draft, the 27-year-old Jones completed 216 of 341 pass attempts (63.3%) for 2,070 passing yards, 8 touchdowns, and 7 interceptions during 10 starts for the New York Giants (the team that selected him) in 2024 before being benched, declared a healthy inactive, waived, and then signed by the Vikings as a backup.
He also has 2,179 total rushing yards and 15 rush touchdowns during his 6-year pro career.”
Once a former franchise quarterback hopeful for the New York Giants with a 4-year, $160 million contract extension, Jones has struggled with many of the things that Colts incumbent starting quarterback Anthony Richardson has in his early pro career: consistency, injuries, and turnovers. However, he does offer a similar skill-set with dual-threat mobility and has an abundance of NFL experience with 69 career starts.
The Colts did need to add some viable starting competition to push Richardson in training camp, and also to serve as veteran insurance for the so far, injury prone young quarterback.
However, it’s a fair argument of whether a veteran such as freshly signed New York Giants quarterback Jameis Winston, who just inked a 2-year, $8 million free agency deal, would’ve been a lot more cost-efficient to address the Colts’ roster needs elsewhere.
Jones is shaping up to join quarterbacks Kirk Cousins and the retired Sam Bradford in the ‘Business of Football Hall of Fame’—and should really be thanking his agent right now. `
The Colts signed him for significant money, yet the Horseshoe Faithful hope that he never actually sees the field (except in a lot of blowout wins), and if he starts for an extended period of time next year, it presumably signals that Indy’s 2025 playoff hopes are likely tanking.
