Any Indianapolis Colts fan could question who general manager Chris Ballard might have been bidding against when it came to bringing back quarterback Daniel Jones this offseason. The QB wanted to be back, and the team had to have him. But what other team did?
That is a key question when it comes to weighing what ESPN's Bill Barnwell wrote was Indy's worst move this offseason. Barnwell certainly didn't hold back in his critique.
He wrote, in part, "Was anyone else really going to pay $37.8 million or more to trigger the transition tag and force the Colts into a difficult decision? If that was a real concern, why didn't the Colts give Jones the $43.9 million franchise tag, which would have made an outside deal even more unlikely? And if there was no market for him, the Colts needed to do more to produce a friendlier contract for their quarterback, either by reducing the guarantee or by putting more of the money into per-game roster bonuses."
Indianapolis Colts slammed for how Daniel Jones' re-signing was done
Well, exactly. The entire per-game roster bonus was just $510,000. In other words, Barnwell is rightfully subtracting points from Chris Ballard for seemingly being outmaneuvered by Jones' agents, Brian Murphy and Andrew Kessler. They wanted max money for their client, as every agent does, and Ballard gave it to them.
Of course, no team is going to announce what they are offering a certain player, which means a GM or other decision-maker has to choose to believe the player's agent(s) when they say that they may have gotten a different offer from another team. Whatever the reason, Chris Ballard likely overpaid for Jones.
Even when it was known that the team would be applying the franchise tag on the quarterback, the amount seemed a bit high. Some had speculated that Indy could pay for Jones what the Seattle Seahawks did in the 2025 offseason when they signed Sam Darnold to a three-year deal worth $100.5 million, and an average of $33.5 million a season with a lot of bonuses involved.
Seattle general manager John Schneider didn't even tie in any guaranteed money for Darnold in years two and three of the deal, but Ballard, in his ever-growing lack of wisdom, guaranteed more money relative to the number of years. Seattle's QB's signing bonus was $32 million, and Jones' was $44 million.
The hitch is that Sam Darnold was going to be ready to practice in training camp and play in Week 1 after his new deal was signed. Jones signed his shorter deal and might not be ready for the first part of the 2026 season after tearing his Achilles tendon in Week 14 last year.
If Chris Ballard was going to overpay for Daniel Jones, which Bill Barnwell plainly puts, then why not at least do so for a four-year deal? Two seasons, one in which he might miss several games, and when he was likely bidding against himself, is just a fireable offense. But in reality, is this any different than what Indianapolis Colts fans would expect from the general manager?
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