The Colts have found their top quarterback competition for incumbent 3rd-year starter Anthony Richardson.
According to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero, the Indianapolis Colts are signing Minnesota Vikings free agent quarterback Daniel Jones to a one-year deal, that’s worth up to $17.7M:
It’s a one-year deal worth up to $17.7 million for Daniel Jones in Indianapolis. https://t.co/xRx1AKWGEP
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) March 11, 2025
For the Colts, it’s a sizeable investment for longtime general manager Chris Ballard and company to push incumbent starting quarterback Anthony Richardson this offseason—for what looks like will be very much a legitimate positional competition in training camp.
“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.”
Jones had been heavily connected to the Colts since the NFL Combine, and it looks like he elected to compete with Richardson over last year’s Vikings first round pick J.J. McCarthy—and perhaps Indianapolis sweetened the deal a bit over Minnesota too.
The Vikings and Colts were both vying to sign him, but after losing out on free agent starting right guard Will Fries to Minnesota earlier in the day, Indianapolis struck back a bit.
Like Richardson, Jones offers dual-threat mobility, meaning the Colts can run a similar offensive system with either quarterback. Jones also provides a wealth of starting experience as a potential top backup with 69 career NFL starts.
He once showed enough promise formerly with the New York Giants as their franchise QB hopeful to ink a 4-year, $160M deal. However, his play declined in more recent years.
Specifically, he struggles with the same issues that Richardson does: injuries, accuracy, turnovers, and consistency.
In my opinion, I wonder if this amount of salary cap could’ve been better utilized elsewhere. For instance, going to new Vikings starting right guard Fries.
Comparatively, veteran Andy Dalton has a cap hit of $3.2M to be the Carolina Panthers primary backup quarterback in 2025. The veteran the Colts should’ve arguably signed back in 2023 to help mentor Richardson, and was arguably the closest thing to Matt Hasselbeck, another former Pro Bowl veteran who previously aided retired quarterback Andrew Luck’s early development.
However, it doesn’t matter, as Jones is the choice and direction that the Colts have gone, adding him as the top quarterback competition for Richardson this offseason.
