The Indianapolis Colts have some moves to make this offseason, both outgoing and incoming. Many of those moves will happen in about three weeks. The start of 2026 NFL free agency unofficially begins on March 9, with players free to officially sign with new teams on March 11. Will Daniel Jones be one of those players signing elsewhere?
Maybe. Unless Indy places the franchise tag on Jones, he has no obligation to return. He can, and likely should, go to the team that is willing to pay him the most. That is why professional football players play the sport, after all.
But should Jones go, who might replace him, other than Anthony Richardson and Riley Leonard, who are already on the roster? Malik Willis might be an option. The failed Tennessee Titans quarterback ended up with the Green Bay Packers for the last two seasons, and he has been quite good when he has played.
Indianapolis Colts should stop any potentially thought of signing quarterback Malik Willis
The problem with Willis is two-fold. One, he isn't going to be much less expensive than Jones, if Spotrac is correct. The money site has Willis projected to be valued at $35.5 million a season (and $71 million over a new two-year contract), while Jones has a projected worth of $43.6 million a season, and $174,394,208 over four years.
This brings us to the other potential problem with Willis. While Daniel Jones has started 82 games in his career, Willis has started just six in four seasons. That is far too small a sample size to have a team think it can count on Willis to keep producing as he did with the Packers when he was asked to play instead of QB1 Jordan Love.
It is that Willis was so fantastically good in his starts in 2024 and 2025 that it creates the dilemma where a team might have to overpay for him to sign him. In 11 games total (and three starts), the quarterback completed 78.7 percent of his passes for six touchdowns and no interceptions. His quarterback rating was 134.6.
But is he suddenly great after being so bad for the Titans? Probably not. He was likely just an excellent fit in head coach Matt LaFleur's offensive scheme. That doesn't mean Malik Willis will be good working in Shane Steichen's system.
Of course, Willis might have something of an advantage over Jones in one area: Jones gets hurt too much. He has had three seasons end early because of getting hurt. For the Indianapolis Colts to make the playoffs in 2026, re-signing Jones and having him stay healthy is a must.