Andrew Buller-Russ
Last season, when many were looking past them, the Indianapolis Colts surprised the football world when Daniel Jones helped them come out of the gates with a 7-1 start. It would all later come crashing down, with the Colts losing eight of their next nine games, finishing the season with a 44-year-old starting QB.
Of course, Jones suffered a torn Achilles tendon, which he’s still recovering from. The belief is that he’ll be ready to go by the start of the season. Yet, unlike last year when the former first-round pick was performing on an expiring deal, now he’s entering the first season of a two-year, $88 million contract. In other words, there’s a lot of pressure on the former No. 6 overall pick, and some don’t believe he’s up to the task.
With the way that Jones and the Colts’ offense came out of the gates firing, some were looking at him as a potential MVP candidate. We never got the chance to find out whether his play was sustainable, especially after he hit a tough stretch just before his season-ending injury, in which the Colts lost three of their past four games before Jones tore the Achilles.
Count ESPN’s Ben Solak as someone who doesn’t believe the play seen from “Indiana Jones” is sustainable as the 29-year-old heads into his second season as the team’s starting quarterback. Solak labeled Jones’ one-year wonder as a “super-blip” on a radar that won’t deliver future hits.
“Most preposterous and least sustainable of Jones’ many achievements was his play under pressure. Statistical performance under pressure is notoriously volatile, and through seven weeks, Jones led the league in EPA per dropback when pressured. Jones was avoiding sacks at an absurd clip. He had a pressure-to-sack ratio of 8.6% after averaging 23.3% over his Giants career. In the middle of the season, Jones began taking bad sacks against the Titans (33.3%), Steelers (27.8%) and Falcons (43.8%). Would Jones and the Colts have a counterpunch? Could Steichen get the ball out of Jones’ hand faster? Would Indy scheme up more protection to maintain its thriving play-action game? We never found out. Jones’ 2025 is obviously a blip. He was not just singularly productive for his baseline but also historically productive among league passers. The undressing of that charade was well underway before he got hurt. The awful reality that he must now recover from an Achilles injury makes the bet that 2025 was a peak season even easier to make.”
ESPN’s Ben Solak on Daniel Jones
For what it’s worth, Solak wrapped up his analysis by saying that Jones wasn’t quite coached right in his six seasons with the Giants, and he was excellent right off the bat under Shane Steichen in Indianapolis. Still, Solak says that Jones will “never again achieve those 2025 highs.” That said, Solak believes that if Jones “rushes back” from his Achilles tear too quickly, like if he’s worried about his starting job, then he could place his career in “jeopardy.”
Time will tell who is right. The Colts rightfully felt like they had no choice but to stick by their starting QB after he thrived with him in a short stint last season. Now we’ll get a chance to start finding out which side made the better bet in the long run. Will the Colts regret not getting Jones under contract for four or five years? Or will they need another QB by 2027 or 2028, indicating that they may not be done with former No. 4 overall pick Anthony Richardson quite yet.
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