The Colts may be keeping Daniel Jones on the roster, but that doesn’t mean they have to keep handing him the offense.
Indianapolis walked into Sunday with a real chance to make things interesting against the Dallas Cowboys. Instead, the opportunity slipped away, and the season feels all but finished. The organization may not be ready to say that out loud, but the path forward is getting harder to ignore.
Jones has not done much to strengthen his case. In nine games, he has topped 200 passing yards only four times, and he’s been held under that mark in five.
His 108-yard outing at Minnesota was his low point, and his 180 yards against Dallas only added to the frustration. The numbers tell the story: six touchdown passes, 10 interceptions, and not nearly enough production to carry an offense that needs more.
That’s why the conversation has shifted from whether the Colts can trade Jones to whether they should even keep starting him. A trade would require a willing partner, and Jones hasn’t exactly been making a strong sales pitch lately.
The more obvious pivot is Anthony Richardson. He remains a wild card, and the source of that uncertainty hasn’t gone away.
He may not be the long-term answer, but there’s still value in seeing what he can show. If he struggles, how much different is that from what Jones has already delivered?
Richardson would be working with a depleted arsenal, but he’d at least get another real chance to prove something.
If Indianapolis decides to move on from both quarterbacks, then the organization will know exactly where it stands. And based on what Jones has shown, he’s not the answer.
“Experiment time” in Week 10 says plenty about how far this thing has gone off the rails. Jones hasn’t earned the big offseason payday he got, and the decision to give it to him looks worse by the week.
With the season spiraling, the Colts might as well hand the keys to Richardson and see what happens. Literally, does it get any worse?
In Other News...
Colts Just Made Their Daniel Jones Belief Impossible To Ignore
Daniel Jones status in Indianapolis has been a talking point for weeks, but the Colts have now made their position clear. The team informed Jones it will not trade him before the NFL deadline, a move that lines up with the belief inside the building that he remains their starting quarterback despite outside speculation and interest from other teams.
It is a notable stance because Jones has flashed career-best performance metrics since arriving in Indianapolis, even as his production has cooled in recent weeks. Still, the Colts are choosing continuity over curiosity, and for now the message is that Jones stays put as the offense keeps moving forward with him under center. [Read more 🡒]
Jonathan Taylor Just Reopened The Colts Biggest Trade Deadline Question
Jonathan Taylors comments after the Colts loss to the Dallas Cowboys only added another layer to an already uneasy week around the teams backfield. Speaking in the aftermath, Taylor addressed the trade chatter without feeding it, saying he does not know whether Sunday was his last game in Indianapolis and expressing appreciation for the city and its fans.
He also denied requesting a trade, which leaves the Colts in the same spot they were before the deadline noise picked up: trying to sort out whether their lead running back is part of the long-term plan or a name that could still move before the NFL trade deadline. For a team that has already had enough to juggle, Taylors uncertainty is the kind of storyline that can hang over the building until the deadline passes. [Read more 🡒]
Daniel Jones Just Made Colts Deadline Tension Even More Real
Daniel Jones did not hide his frustration after the Colts loss to Dallas, a game in which he finished 20 of 34 for 180 yards with a touchdown and an interception. The veteran quarterbacks comments landed at a sensitive time for Indianapolis, with the trade deadline looming and the team already navigating a stretch of roster movement that has added to the uncertainty around the building.
Jones also pushed back on the noise surrounding his future, saying he has not asked out and is staying locked in on the next game. For a Colts team trying to steady itself under Shane Steichen, the timing matters just as much as the message, because even when the quarterback insists he is focused on football, the deadline chatter has a way of hanging around until it passes. [Read more 🡒]