Will Daniel Jones resurrect his career and wake up the echoes of 2022? Count me as a doubter

Geno Smith, Sam Darnold and Baker Mayfield are all enjoying second acts. The Colts desperately hope it will be the same for Jones.

I would love to write the uplifting tale of how Daniel Jones bet on himself, won a starting quarterback job and resurrected his career with his best season since 2022. That would be inspiring, and it would answer the Colts’ eternal quarterback question for the near future and beyond (assuming they sign him after this season’s one-year contract). It would be great if he could use the second acts of Geno Smith, Sam Darnold and Baker Mayfield as a template.

I just don’t see it happening. Not to be Debbie Downer, but we have six years of data on Jones, and it’s not great. It’s not even mediocre. True, he played for an organization that can’t get out of its own way – the New York Giants – playing for a team with a leaky offensive line that contributed to his 208 sacks in 70 games. Still, he was 24-44-1 as a starter and except for that one fine season in 2022, when the Giants reached the playoffs, he’s been largely ineffective.

Jones strikes me as one of those quarterbacks who needs to be surrounded by a great team, and while the Colts were very aggressive about bolstering their secondary through free agency, this is still a team with some significant flaws. For one thing, we have little idea how Tanor Bortolini and Matt Goncalves will hold up at center and right guard. The Colts do have three receivers who exceeded 800 yards (Michael Pittman Jr., Josh Downs and Alec Pierce), they don’t have an elite receiver like Darnold had with Justin Jefferson in Minnesota. The defense should be significantly better after finishing 29^th in total defense last year – Lou Anarumo brings a new philosophy and the secondary is vastly improved with the additions of Cam Bynum, Charvarius Ward and Xavien Howard – but they’re not the ’85 Bears (who is?).

What I’m saying is, while Darnold walked into a perfect situation in Minnesota and went on to have a great year, Jones doesn’t have similar talent around him.