Daniel Jones has a chance to make a fast climb in Colts passing history, and it all comes down to one simple thing: staying on the field.
After arriving in Indianapolis on a relatively inexpensive free-agent deal last offseason, Jones won the QB1 job over Anthony Richardson and spent much of the first half of 2025 playing at a high level. Even with a torn Achilles tendon in Week 14 cutting his season short, he still finished with 3,101 passing yards.
That total already puts him in position for something notable if he can put together a full 2026 season in Shane Steichen’s system. A healthy year could push Jones to 4,000 passing yards or more, and that would move him from No. 17 on the Colts’ all-time passing list to No.
- In the process, he would pass players such as Philip Rivers, who is currently No. 10, and Jacoby Brissett at No.
Jones has never reached 4,000 yards in a season. His career high came in 2022 with the New York Giants, when he threw for 3,205.
The bigger issue has been durability. Including 2025, he has had three seasons shortened by injuries across his seven NFL seasons, which means nearly half of his career has been interrupted in one way or another.
If you count 2024, when the Giants released him rather than keep him around, the picture gets even starker: for more than half of his career, Jones has not been able to finish a season healthy and effective. For Indianapolis, the concern is clearly the health side of that equation.
It’s also easy to overlook just how banged up he was before the Achilles injury. Jones was playing on a broken fibula in his left leg when he later tore the Achilles in his right. Whether the broken leg contributed to the Achilles tear is unclear, but the reality is that he was already dealing with a serious injury before he was forced out.
That injury history is exactly why the Colts were smart to keep the commitment short this offseason. Jones’ new deal can pay him as much as $88 million over two years, but Indianapolis isn’t locked in for the long haul if the injuries keep piling up.
Still, if Jones is back by Week 1 as he hopes, 2026 could be a big statistical year. And if that happens, he could vault into the Colts’ top 10 passing leaders after only two seasons with the franchise. The one place he won’t be climbing anytime soon is all the way to the top: Peyton Manning sits at No. 1 with 54,828 passing yards.
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