Colts GM: I ‘Underestimated’ Daniel Jones’s Accuracy

Indianapolis Colts general manager Chris Ballard says he underestimated quarterback Daniel Jones at first.

The Colts signed Jones to a one-year prove-it deal last season; he led the Colts to an 8-2 start to the season before injuries derailed his season and ultimately the team’s. Jones is on the mend from a torn Achilles that he suffered last year. But Ballard told ESPN’s Rich Eisen Thursday that the team believes Jones has a bright future with the team despite the short-term injury concerns.

“He was out there doing back flips a minute ago,” Ballard joked when asked about Jones’s recovery. “If you’d have been here quick enough, I would have got it on tape for you. I’d have pointed this [webcam] toward the screen. … He’s doing well, though. He’s throwing, he’s dropping, and he’s right on schedule and doing really well. [I] couldn’t be more pleased with Daniel.”

Jones suffered a torn Achilles midway through the Colts’ week 14 matchup with the Jacksonville Jaguars. He had already been dealing with a fractured fibula in the middle of the season. He played through it using a pad designed by two of his former college teammates.

Before the injuries, Jones looked like an early favorite for MVP, and the Colts looked like a Super Bowl contender. They won their first three games, then won four in a row after their first loss. They went into the bye week 8-2 and at the top of the AFC. But Jones’s injuries hampered his play even before the Achilles injury, and the Colts dropped three in a row coming out of the bye.

Backup Anthony Richardson was also gone for the year due to a broken orbital bone in his eye. The Colts ended up signing 44-year-old Philip Rivers out of retirement, with seventh-round rookie Riley Leonard as Rivers’s backup.

The Colts placed the transition tag on Jones in free agency, then signed him to a 2-year, $88 million deal.

“It wasn’t [the] easiest one to get done, because he didn’t finish the season out, and then having the Achilles, so we needed to find a common [ground], and I give [his agents] a lot of credit,” Ballard said.

“They worked hard on this, as we did, to find common ground, and usually when you get one done, like any big contract you get done, both sides are going to sting a little bit. You’re not going to get everything you want. You’re probably going to go a little higher than you wanted, and they probably went a little lower than they wanted,” he said.

“But that’s part of the negotiation. These are human beings, and you don’t ever want a guy to sign with you and then be looking around going, ‘man, these guys just screwed me.’  That’s not good for your team. It’s not good for the players. It’s not good for morale. But he played well enough to where we were willing to bet and say, ‘Okay, we think he’s got a really bright future here, and the money we’re going to pay him, it’s going to be worth it.’ And I truly believe that, and I think ownership does, and [head coach] Shane [Steichen] and the rest of the group.”

Ballard was asked about what he learned about Jones from the time he came into the building to now. Ballard—who previously served as director of player personnel and director of football operations with the Kansas City Chiefs before being hired by the Colts—compared him to one of the great quarterbacks he had at the time.

“We had Alex Smith in Kansas City, they’re a lot alike, how they prepare for the game, how steady they are day-to-day, there was a lot of similarities,” he said.

“And then I probably underestimated his accuracy coming in the door. Man, this dude is accurate now. And when he’s in rhythm and really in a groove, he is excellent. We had scouted Daniel.

“But you know, until you live with somebody, you don’t know him. And so you know living with him every day, seeing his consistency, seeing him not get too high or too low, all those things bode well for the Colts and for his future. He’s really good. This guy’s talented and good.”