Colts QB Daniel Jones leaning on trusted mentor who helped Peyton Manning

Indianapolis Colts quarterback Daniel Jones started the season off on fire. Despite all of the low expectations going into 2025, Jones has thrived. He was playing like an elite-level quarterback, one of the best in the league, and the Colts seemed unstoppable.

Unfortunately, Indy — and Jones — have struggled the past few weeks. Sure, they're still primed to make the playoffs, but the Colts aren't playing nearly as well as they did at the beginning of the season, and that includes Jones.

Jones has begun having problems with fumbles and turnovers, making bad decisions, and in general, looking like the kind of quarterback Giants fans grew to know and... well, hate. But there is still a lot of football left to play, and Jones has reached out to one of his past mentors to right the course — a mentor with ties to another Colts legend.

Daniel Jones reconnects with a key voice behind his growth as a quarterback

ESPN reported that, after the Colts' ugly loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, Jones reached out to David Cutcliffe, who coached Jones at Duke University. "We did a bit of a deep dive," Cutcliffe said. "It was mostly me listening to him."

The two have evidently remained close throughout his football career, with Jones talking to Cutcliffe after each game to run down what went well and what can be done better. Lately, Cutcliffe has focused on reassuring Jones, despite his current struggles; Cutcliffe said Jones was beating himself up after the Pittsburgh loss in particular. So he went back to his former coach, whom he's leaned on for 11 years.

"I think it's helpful to have someone you really trust, someone who's seen you kind of grow on the field and off the field as a player and knows what you are at your core," Jones said. "And you've got to go back to that. A lot of those tougher years in New York, he helped me a ton through that, giving me coaching points and things I needed to work on, but also encouraging me and helping me realize a lot of things that I needed to do to improve and help build confidence."

Cutcliffe said he has been coaching Jones through his career in New York, watching film and preparing for the comeback no one thought would ever come. But now, with a good team, Cutcliffe said the league is finally seeing what he's able to do. He's had a similar effect on another famous Colt, too: Peyton Manning, whom he coached at the University of Tennessee, later becoming his private coach.

"He always told me the unvarnished truth, and you appreciate that more as the years go by,'' Manning said. "Because that's an important part of trying to do as well as you can possibly do, is somebody willing to give you that kind of honesty. You know it's good, but maybe not how good until you look back and see the impact."

That Jones continues to seek out extra help, above and beyond what the practice and coaching he receives from the Colts, is why fans can continue to feel optimistic about his future. Jones has been called the hardest-working player on the team, and that hard work is clearly paying off.