Colts voice puts a stop to the Daniel Jones hype train with a harsh reality check

The latest updates from the Indianapolis Colts during offseason training have been very, very kind to Daniel Jones. The struggling quarterback came to Indy in hopes of winning a QB1 job, and resurrecting a career that was seemingly already dead. His performance so far has been highly praised, both by head coach Shane Steichen and others around the league. Judging by the hype, Jones is the answer to all of the Colts' prayers, and a poorly-timed - or perfectly timed, depending on who you're rooting for - injury from Anthony Richardson has cleared the way for Jones. And with Jones doing so well, that's cause for celebration, with Indy finally on the road to the playoffs once again... right?

Wrong, according to SI's Sean Ackerman, who pointed out that there's a good reason Jones hasn't been successful yet. While Ackerman acknowledged that Jones could be a serviceable quarterback, there's nothing yet to indicate that he'll be the leader this team needs to become a real contender, and his play so far in the NFL has not been all that different from Richardson's, as he reminded fans with this troubling stat:

To Ackerman, Jones is more reminiscent of Carson Wentz or Matt Ryan than anyone else, and there's little room to celebrate right now - even with a better receiving corps than those two QBs had. "Jones is getting paid to put the ball in the breadbasket, something he's struggled with no matter the weapons. According to Fantasy Points Data, Jones tied Richardson for the lowest depth-adjusted accuracy over expectation (-7.1%) in the league last season," Ackerman said.

But he was just getting started; Ackerman followed that up with some harsh criticism for general manager Chris Ballard too, stopping just short of calling him delusional.

"When you think about that stat, you wonder what Ballard was really hoping for when he signed Jones. Those accuracy issues won't magically fix themselves. Nineteen quarterbacks have thrown 2000+ pass attempts since 2019, and among those 19 quarterbacks, Jones has the third-worst completion percentage (64.1%), the worst passer rating (84.3), the lowest touchdown percentage (3.1%), and the lowest passing yards per game (208.3).

To think that Jones' problems have been solved in three months of being with the Colts would be naive. Pairing an organization that has a bad track record of quarterbacks over the past decade with a quarterback who has failed to win games is a match made in hell."

Sean Ackerman

Oof. That one hurts. But does that mean he's wrong?

Going by the fact that Richardson is injured, and Jones has been doing well in OTAs and mini-camp, it seems that most people are ready to sign the death certificate on Richardson's career already. But it's also important to remember that, so far, Jones has been doing well in drills with no pads on. Yes, there's a lot of improving Richardson needs to do, but he also has a vote of confidence from Carlie Irsay-Gordon herself -- and it's common knowledge that Ballard and Steichen need to see him succeed this season, if at all possible.

The hype train is going strong for Jones right now, but it might be time to put a quick stop to that, and confront the reality that, really, there's nothing to prove that he will end up being the answer to the Colts' quarterback problem. Not yet, anyway.

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