Colts And Daniel Jones Really Into Each Other Despite Reasons They Maybe Shouldn't Be

INDIANAPOLIS – Everything we've heard from the hometown Colts during the current NFL Scouting Combine leads to only one conclusion about the club and Daniel Jones: They're really into each other and that will soon be affirmed when the pending free agent signs a new contract with the team.

This is curious in some respects because it obviously means the Colts are all in on Jones. And Jones is all in on the Colts.

Despite reasons both should perhaps be shopping for other options.

Indianapolis Colts general manager Chris Ballard meets with the media at the 2026 NFL Combine.

Colts, Jones Seem Headed Toward Contract

But they're not. The representatives for the quarterback have been talking with Colts general manager Chris Ballard and those negotiations have been, well, amazing!

"We'll continue to work this week and see if we can get something done," Ballard said. "It's been very positive. Look, when both sides are driven to get it done, it usually works out the right way. 

"…We're driven, they're driven, the agents have been great to work with. We just got to keep working through it."

That sounds like the Colts are expecting to wrap up a new deal with Jones in the coming days, and certainly before free agency begins in earnest, when the agents for looming free agents are allowed to begin negotiating with other teams on March 9.

"Obviously, we're in talks now with him and hopefully something will work out here soon," coach Shane Steichen said.

Indianapolis Colts quarterback Daniel Jones moves along the sideline on a scooter Sunday, Dec. 28, 2025, ahead a game against the Jacksonville Jaguars at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.

Return In Record Time By Jones?

The Colts apparently have no concerns about Jones recovering and returning from the torn Achilles injury that knocked him out for the remainder of the 2025 season last Dec. 7. That injury, by the way, led to the Philip Rivers experience.

Steichen has been keeping abreast of Jones and his rehab and that has been going so well that the coach believes the quarterback can return in record time.

"I do feel confident," Steichen said. "Obviously, he's attacking his rehab the right way and, so, feel confident he'll be ready to go for training camp."

If Jones is ready for the start of training camp, he'd be back on the field in approximately eight months after his injury. 

So the Colts are fully sold on Jones. And they're fully sold on what the team can accomplish when he's healthy because they opened the season with an 8-2 record that had them among the NFL's best teams.

"We were clicking on all cylinders," Steichen said. "I think everyone was rolling. Obviously, the way we were throwing it, the way we were running it, the way we were playing on defense."

ARLINGTON, TEXAS - OCTOBER 10: Daniel Jones #8 of the New York Giants receives medical attention after an injury against the New York Giants during an NFL game at AT&T Stadium on October 10, 2021 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Cooper Neill/Getty Images)

Nobody Pumps Brakes On Jones-Colts Deal? 

And I have one question about this lovefest:

Why are the Colts focused on Jones helping them get to 8-2, but not the 8-4 record, headed to 8-5, they had in the game he got hurt? And have they not noticed Jones didn't just suffer an injury out of happenstance last year, but actually added to an injury history that includes a neck injury in 2024, and a season-ending ACL injury in 2023?

One supposes that history will be baked into their contract offer to Jones. 

And what about Indianapolis has Jones so convinced he should sign there before allowing the open market to do its thing?

Enter To Win The Ultimate "Money-Can't-Buy" Experience At The NCAA Men's Hoops National Championship Game

This offseason is a free agent quarterback's dream in that more teams need starters than there are starters available. It's the reason teams are now calling each other and asking about backups such as Tyson Bagent, Mac Jones, Andy Dalton, Davis Mills and others.

Jones, injury history and all, could be the best available free agent on a market currently expected to be driven by … Malik Willis.

It would make perfect sense for either party to pause. But that's not how this seems to be playing out.

The Colts and Jones are a thing. And a new contract tying them together is on the horizon.