Last season the New York Giants lost running back Saquon Barkley to the Philadelphia Eagles and he went on to have a 2,000-yard season and get a Super Bowl title. While the championship most likely isn’t happening, Daniel Jones could be the next Barkley.
The Indianapolis Colts beat the Tennessee Titans 41-20 on Sunday and are now 3-0 and leading the AFC South. Jones was a modest 18-25 passing for 228 yards and one touchdown, but he’s been incredibly efficient and has yet to throw an interception this season.
Giants fans can’t be overly thrilled about this, can they?
ESPN’s Dan Graziano acknowledges that this is an overreaction, but wonders if Jones should be in the MVP conversation.
“Through the first two weeks, Jones — the reclamation-project quarterback the Colts signed to compete with former No. 4 draft pick Anthony Richardson Sr. for their starting quarterback job — ranked second in the NFL in passing yards, first in yards per attempt, sixth in Total QBR and had three rushing touchdowns on top of all that,” Graziano writes. “He kept it rolling, completing a cool 18 of 25 passes for 228 yards in a more Jonathan Taylor-centric lopsided victory over the Titans.”
Graziano thinks Daniel Jones looks like a brand-new player
Jones has a very un-Jones stat line through three games in 2025. He’s completed 71.6% of his passes for 816 yards and three touchdowns for a 111.7 passer rating. Re-read that.
“Jones looks like a different guy,” Graziano writes. “After going 7-for-9 for 130 yards and a touchdown on passes thrown at least 10 yards downfield on Sunday, he’s now completing 65% of such throws this season. He completed 50% of them in his first six seasons in the league. Sunday’s win improved Indy’s record to 3-0 — a full three games ahead of the reeling two-time defending AFC South champion Texans (though only one game ahead of the plucky 2-1 Jaguars).”
Raise your hand if you saw this coming. Granted, it’s only three games, but the Colts were scrambling just to find a starting quarterback this offseason. Through OTAs and training camp, the team was still deciding between Jones and former No. 4-overall draft pick Anthony Richardson. Who knows what Richardson would have done (not this), but he couldn’t be any better than 3-0.
Daniel Jones running an offense that has punted once
In Sunday’s win, the Colts punted for the first time all season. Through three games, Jones’ offenses have only kicked the ball away one time. That’s pretty crazy for any quarterback, let alone one that was essentially left for dead in the NFL.
“The Colts have punted once so far this season,” Graziano concludes. “They’ve scored on 77% of their offensive possessions — the highest such mark for any team in its first three games over the past 45 seasons. If the Colts end up winning their division — something they haven’t done since 2014, when Chuck Pagano was their coach and Andrew Luck was their quarterback — and Jones keeps playing like this in coach Shane Steichen’s offense, this isn’t the last time you’re going to hear someone talk about Jones’ MVP qualifications.”
The odds of Jones being in the MVP discussion even three weeks from now would seem absurd. But, stranger things have happened. MVP candidate? No. Comeback Player of the Year? Much better chance.
Regardless, Giants fans have to be thinking, ‘not again.’
“I have full respect for what Jones is doing, and I think it’s sustainable to some degree,” Graziano concludes. “The Colts’ formula feels not unlike the one the Giants employed when they made the playoffs with Jones at quarterback in 2022. This Colts team probably has a better roster than that Giants team did. But it’s just way too early for this kind of talk.”
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