Jaylon Jones warms up to play a game with the Colts.
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Jaylon Jones did well to turn himself from a seventh-round pick into a consistent contributor the Indianapolis Colts.
Those contributions didn’t end up being big enough, though. The Colts waived Jones on Tuesday.
It was part of a three-pronged roster move that the Colts announced in an official press release like this:
“The Indianapolis Colts today signed tackle Luke Tenuta to the 53-man roster from the practice squad and waived cornerback Jaylon Jones. The team also signed tight end Kenny Fletcher Jr. to the practice squad.”
Signing Tenuta was about adding depth where there wasn’t any at the offensive tackle spots.
Signing Mitchell brought aboard a potentially versatile youngster.
Waiving Jones, more than anything, shows how far the Colts’ cornerback room has come.
Why Did Colts Waive Jaylon Jones?
The Colts appear to have waived Jones more than anything because they no longer needed him the way they once did.
The mid-season trade for Sauce Gardner in 2025 started the push toward improving the Indy cornerback room.
They’ve also picked up the veteran Charvarius Ward to start opposite Gardner.
They’ve got a promising slot corner, Justin Walley, and other depth cornerbacks like Johnathan Edwards and Kapena Gushiken.
The Colts could likely try to maneuver Jones onto the practice squad, but that depends if anyone else targets him. They’ve already got Rob Carter Jr. and Kenneth Harris on the practice squad.
In addition, they’ve currently got Cameron Mitchell on IR and Cam Taylor-Britt facing suspension.
That’s a lot of depth that the Colts didn’t have in the past at cornerback, and it made Jones expendable.
Jaylon Jones’ Colts Stats
Jones was the No. 221 overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, a seventh-rounder out of Texas A&M.
He started 10 games in his rookie season, and then in 2024, he started all 17 games. In his second Colts campaign, Jones snatched two interceptions, defensed 12 passes, forced a fumble and made 100 tackles.
In 2025, Jones started two of the 10 games he appeared in and defensed four passes while making 18 tackles.
While he could be physical at 6-foot-2 and 203 pounds, Jones wasn’t the ideal cover corner, and it allowed other teams to target him when he was in the game.
On the flip side, Jones will play the entire season ahead at 24 years old. He entered the NFL on the young end of the spectrum, and so there’s certainly a chance that he continues to improve and get better.
If Jones does that, this could turn into a bit of regret for the Colts. They really did need that offensive tackle addition to the active roster, though, and if this was the only way they felt comfortable doing that, then it just happens to end poorly for Jones.
He should definitely keep his eyes and ears open. It seems a new chance for Jones should probably arrive pretty soon.
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Billy Heyen Billy Heyen is a Heavy contributor with focus on the NFL and MLB. He is a 2019 graduate of Syracuse University who spent his senior year following Jim Boeheim's basketball team around the country. His reporting work has also included extensive work for The Sporting News, the Sandusky Register and Rochester's Democrat & Chronicle. Adventures in sports writing have also led to in-person coverage of the Buffalo Sabres, Cleveland Guardians, U.S. men's national soccer team and a variety of minor league baseball stories. More about Billy Heyen
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