The Indianapolis Colts have two days to make some major decisions or not. The problem is that, reportedly, contract negotiations with quarterback Daniel Jones aren't going well, and that will affect everything else Indy wants to do.
According to Essentially Sports' Tony Pauline, Indianapolis and Jones "are not close to coming to terms on a new contract. Evidently, Jones wants more money than the Colts expected."
What isn't known are the amounts, of course. How much does Jones want, and how much did Indy expect him to want? The quarterback likely wants at least $40 million a season because he has been paid that before when he was with the New York Giants. If general manager Chris Ballard thought he could get Jones on a Sam Darnold-type contract, that was a bad guess.
Indianapolis Colts and Daniel Jones are reportedly not close in contract negotiations
One of the bigger issues is that if Indianapolis can't agree with Jones before March 3 at 4 pm ET, the team might be forced to franchise tag him, which would cost the Colts $47 million in 2026 and maybe cost the team a chance to bring back wide receiver Alec Pierce.
The plan might have been to agree to terms with Jones before March 3, which is the deadline to apply either the franchise or transition tags, and then tag Pierce. The chances of that happening are not good at this point, which means that Indy might have to tag one or the other and see the other leave in free agency.
The quarterback has to take priority, of course. He touches the ball on every offensive play. The Colts have already shown they don't know how to use Pierce enough, so he might simply want to go somewhere that gets him the ball more. With Indy, he can probably expect to have 50 catches.
The worst case, which is still in play, is that Ballard can't re-sign Jones before March 3, doesn't tag either Jones or Pierce, and both walk in free agency. Both are going to have lots of potential suitors, and getting paid lots of money is not going to be a problem for either.
Should the Indianapolis Colts find a way to re-sign Daniel Jones and Alec Pierce, also a possibility, that probably means other players need to go. The cap hits from both could exceed the total that Indy has to spend, projected to be $33,211,489 per Over the Cap, so releasing players such as wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr. might be necessary. That would be a $24 million savings alone.
The next couple of days should be extremely interesting for Colts fans, and how good or bad 2026 might look will take shape. Right now, though, Indy probably needs to up its offer to Daniel Jones.