Daniel Jones signs with Indianapolis: The Dynasty Fantasy Football Impact
The Indianapolis Colts have been doing everything they can to replace Andrew Luck since he decided to retire back in 2018 after just six NFL seasons. The likes of Jacoby Brissett, Philip Rivers, Carson Wentz, Nick Foles, Matt Ryan, and Gardner Minshew all failed as veteran options, so they turned to the NFL Draft in 2023, taking Anthony Richardson with the fourth overall pick.
Things have not gone well for the Colts and today they made a significant move that could indicate Richardson’s time as the starter is running short as they signed former Giants quarterback Daniel Jones to a one-year deal. This move is significant in dynasty leagues, so let’s break down the players involved.
Daniel Jones, QB IND
When the Giants made Daniel Jones the 6th overall pick in the 2019 NFL Draft, many raised an eyebrow. In fact, some raised two. After all, he a good, but not dominant in any way during his time at Duke. However, he was a fast riser due to his athletic profile and the Giants thought they had found their next franchise quarterback.
In a way, everyone was right.
Jones had some real highs and lows during his time with the G-Men. His rookie season featured 3,027 passing yards with 24 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. Oddly enough, those are his career highs in both categories. Over his six seasons with New York, Jones posted 14,582 passing yards, 2,179 rushing yards, 85 total touchdowns and 47 interceptions over 70 games played. He also has 15 lost fumbles, another statistic that’s not irrelevant.
After being released by the Giants mid-season last year, Jones spent time in Minnesota backing up Sam Darnold. The Vikings were making a hard push to re-sign him as a stop-gap option for a developing JJ McCarthy, but that didn’t work out. Instead, Jones agreed to this deal with Indianapolis that will reportedly pay him $14 million in salary, with escalators that could make that contract worth just under $18 million. When you consider what players like Jimmy Garoppolo ($4 million for one year), Zach Wilson ($6 million for one year), Josh Dobbs ($8 million for two years), and Jarrett Stidham ($12 million for two years), eyebrows should be raised again. In other words, Danny Dimes got Danny Dollars.
Jones is clearly in a competition with Richardson and Indianapolis has protected themselves should Richardson continue to struggle. While Jones doesn’t look like a long-term solution, we’ve seen him be a competent starter in the league and the Colts want to make sure 2025 is no disaster of a season. This is a very interesting signing to say the least and Jones’ ADP freefall is going to end now.
Anthony Richardson, QB IND
Richardson has only played in 15 games in his NFL career, hardly a giant sample size. However, he’s also struggled mightily in both the performance and durability categories. In those 15 games, Richardson has posted 2,391 passing yards, 635 rushing yards, 11 passing touchdowns, ten rushing touchdowns, 13 interceptions and nine lost fumbles. He also played just four games as a rookie before missing the rest of the year with an injury and was benched last year in favor of Joe Flacco for a stretch. In short, this has been a mess.
This off-season is huge for Richardson. He’s apparently spending time refining his mechanics to become a better passer. He’s going to need to as his career completion percentage is just over 50%, a number that just won’t cut it in the NFL. Accuracy is also one of the toughest things to fix for a quarterback and Richardson is clearly running out time.
While he remains the favorite to start (again, the Colts have to be hoping he wins this competition), it’s also crystal clear the Colts are more than ready to admit they made a massive mistake with their selection of Richardson and could be ready to hit reset next season. Perhaps they’ll angle for the next Manning. Regardless, the ADP drop for Richardson won’t stop with this signing as it solidifies something we may already know – he may be a bust. If you don’t believe that, this will be your time to buy as the price will be cheap.
Colts Skill Players
This signing won’t hurt players like Michael Pittman, Alec Pierce, Josh Downs, Jonathan Taylor or anyone else in the offense. In fact, it likely maintains their relevance. While Jones is far from dominant, he’s good enough to keep this offense afloat should Richardson fail to live up to the hype. In the end, this is a good thing as it looks like the Colts won’t just punt on the season and wave the white flag if things go south.
Russell Wilson and Aaron Rodgers, QBs FA
Mark one more destination off the list for this pair. The Steelers, Titans, and Giants seem to be the only teams left who are searching for quarterbacks and this would have been a decent spot, at least for Wilson.
Ken is on Twitter at DLF_KenK
