Daniel Jones is following the Baker Mayfield/Sam Darnold path as a former top-10 pick to bounce back after inconsistency together with his first NFL team. The Colts have reaped the advantages of their one-year Jones addition, and buzz is constructing — particularly after the team’s blockbuster trade that stripped away top draft assets — this partnership will proceed.
The Colts are planning to make Jones a long-term offer, based on NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport. Although extension talks haven’t begun yet, CBS Sports’ Jonathan Jones adds the quarterback “loves” Indianapolis and is pleased together with his current situation. The seventh-year veteran selected the Colts over a greater offer to stay with the Vikings, viewing this because the superior path to a starting role. He was proven correct, and the Colts are tied for the AFC’s best record — at 8-2 — of their bye week.
Seeing because the Colts dealt their 2026 and ’27 first-round picks for Sauce Gardner, it definitely looks like Jones’ bargaining position improved. Against all odds, Jones has found himself with leverage that may very well be comparable to where he stood with the Giants in 2023. While Jones negotiations haven’t yet began, discussions with the free agent-to-be must be expected soon.
Indianapolis each missed on its most up-to-date first-round quarterback (Anthony Richardson) and has dealt away the highest two assets to land one other one. Although Jones didn’t come near living as much as his four-year, $160MM Giants accord, he asked for $47MM per 12 months that offseason — a seminal period for that franchise. Jones’ positional value prompted GM Joe Schoen to prioritize him greater than Saquon Barkley, talent disparity notwithstanding, and that led to a Barkley tag and 2024 free agency exit. The Giants’ decision to re-sign Jones backfired spectacularly, with Barkley joining the two,000-yard club and driving the Eagles to a Super Bowl title — weeks after Recent York released Jones.
Jones was not believed to have created much distance from Richardson during their training camp competition, but he won the job and has definitely separated from the erratic top-five pick in-season. Jones ranks ninth in QBR, which represents a slip from where he was a number of weeks ago but obviously a surprising placement given his standing throughout his second Giants contract and into free agency. Jones is playing out a one-year, $14MM contract; he’s positioned to do significantly better in 2026.
The Colts appear “all in” on a long-term partnership with Jones, ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler notes, citing Mayfield and Darnold’s deals as comps. Mayfield and Darnold signed near-identical contracts a 12 months apart, and each have justified the payments.
Mayfield is on a three-year, $100MM deal that included $40MM at signing; Darnold is at three years, $100.5MM ($37.5MM at signing). Darnold’s hot Seattle start has left little to no suspense about him collecting a further $17.5MM guaranteed in February. Jones’ shaky Giants tenure will logically give teams pause, but Fowler points to the QB with the ability to set his price point beyond where Mayfield and Darnold took the mid-tier QB market.
Jones, who used his dual-threat ability to pilot the Colts to a game-tying drive in the ultimate second of their win in Berlin, leads the NFL in passing yards — with 2,659 and sits fourth in yards per attempt (8.3). Each numbers are out of step with the previous No. 6 overall pick’s Giants work, which never featured a season north of seven.0 yards per pass or a yardage total beyond 3,300. Jones is on pace to blow past that yardage mark, and while the ex-Eli Manning successor did guide the Colts to wins over the Broncos and Chargers, tough tests against the Chiefs, Seahawks and 49ers remain. Two matchups against a formidable Texans defense are on Indy’s docket as well.
When the Colts traded Gardner, some across the league viewed it as a pledge they may re-sign Jones, ESPN’s Dan Graziano notes. We heard before the Gardner trade the Colts were enthusiastic about a post-2025 Jones relationship. Considering Jones’ struggles justifying his $40MM-AAV Giants accord and his health issues prior to now, the Colts diving back in on a franchise-level contract for this particular player would seem dangerous. But this franchise has been starved for stability on the position post-Andrew Luck. By starting Jones over Richardson this 12 months, the Colts joined only Washington (2017-24) by utilizing an eighth Week 1 QB1 in nine-season span. Jones has also given Indy’s homegrown core a return to relevance.
Controlling owner Carlie Irsay-Gordon signed off on Chris Ballard‘s Gardner swap, encouraging her GM to secure a long-term fix for the team’s boundary cornerback issue relatively than a stopgap solution. The Colts failed with QB stopgaps in Carson Wentz and Matt Ryan, and despite the fact that their hopeful long-term fix in Richardson appears a failure in progress, the team’s Gardner play points to Jones being given one other lucrative contract.
Jones playing hardball with the Giants in 2023 provides an indication where his Indy negotiations could go, and that might be an interesting storyline to follow as free agency nears. But he and MVP candidate Jonathan Taylor have the Colts in first place in scoring this season. It is feasible Ballard has made a determination on his quarterback, and Jones’ resurgence is on target to save lots of the GM and HC Shane Steichen‘s jobs.
Regardless that the Colts have hurdles to clear as they pursue their first playoff bye since 2009, the team is on target for its first AFC South title since 2014. A reward payment for Jones appears to be expected within the not-too-distant future. The Colts have until the mid-March legal tampering period to barter exclusively with Jones, whose Giants deal got here days before the 2023 legal tampering period.