2. Let's talk about the Achilles'.
Throughout this process, the Colts did not view the Achilles' injury Jones sustained on Dec. 7 as a significantly complicating factor in retaining him. Jones said a month after the injury he expects to be ready for training camp in the summer, a belief buoyed by the quarterback rehabbing "like a wild man," as Ballard put it.
"He's attacking his rehab the right way," Steichen said. "And so feel confident that he'll be ready to go for training camp."
On Thursday, Jones said he's progressing well and expects to be "100 percent" by Week 1 of the 2026 season.
There certainly still are plenty of steps for Jones to clear in the rehab process, and those can't be rushed or skipped. But all indications are Jones is doing what it takes to get himself ready for training camp; if he makes it back for Week 1, he'll take the field just over nine months after sustaining the injury.
But if Jones is back to start the 2026 season, will he be the same player we saw over those first 10 games?
Ballard addressed that question in January.
"The history of guys coming back has been pretty good, and they've been older than Daniel," Ballard said, pointing to a 36-year-old Kirk Cousins and a 40-year-old Aaron Rodgers returning from Achilles' injuries. "Daniel is 28 years old. He's a pretty freaky talent in terms of athletic ability. I do feel confident that he will make it back. Will he be the version you saw right away? Maybe not, but he's still going to be really good. I think as he goes along and plays, he'll be fine."
3. If Jones isn't immediately the same version of himself, why can he still be successful?
A few things here. I had ESPN's Benjamin Solak on this week's episode of The Colts Show podcast, and something he emphasized is the Colts don't need that same version of Jones to thrive as an offense. Solak's point was, as he put it, the Colts need "enough of a passing game" to keep defenses honest – as in, they can't over-commit to stopping the run.
Becuase, as you might remember, the Colts have Jonathan Taylor in the backfield.
Jones' mobility was already limited by a leg injury in the two full games he played prior to his Achilles' injury, which in turn did hinder the Colts' running game. But the expectation here is Jones' mobility will be better in 2026 than it was over those post-bye games in 2025, which will allow the Colts to access more run schemes, which they can build off over the course of game.
And the other thing here is what mobility for Jones actually means. It's not like it was during his time with the New York Giants, who frequently used him on designed runs. Jones, in three seasons prior to joining the Colts, averaged 7.5, 6.7 and 6.7 rushing attempts per game; he averaged four rushing attempts per game over the first 10 weeks of the 2025 season.
This is what mobility means for Jones within Steichen's offense: Quick throws on play-action rollouts.
In Weeks 1-10, he had 29 play-action dropbacks on which he rolled to his right or left, tied for the third-most in the league in that stretch. On those plays, he completed 25 of 29 passes for 262 yards – good for a completion percentage of 86.2 percent and an average of nine yards per pass. His average time to throw on these plays was 2.68 seconds, tied for third-quickest.
The Colts don't need Daniel Jones to be 2019 Lamar Jackson. They do need him to throw on the move.
Let's tie in the other quarterbacks who sustained Achilles' injuries recently. Cousins, prior to his Achilles' injury in 2023, had the NFL's second-lowest yards per attempt on play action rollout throws (4.3). Rodgers, in the year after his Achilles' injury, actually attempted more passes on play-action rollouts (40 in 2024, 26 in 2022) and his yards per attempt stayed flat (7.3 in 2024, 7.2 in 2022).
It wasn't a strength of Cousins' game before he got hurt, and Rodgers still was able to sprinkle in these sort of plays even after coming back.
The Colts aren't building their entire offense out of this one specific type of play, but having it as part of Steichen's playcalling menu opens things up in the run game for Taylor in how, again, it keeps defenses honest.