Quarterback Daniel Jones was a primary reason why the Indianapolis Colts opened the 2025 season on a hot streak, but he is now a key factor in the team's dreadful start to 2026. Jones ranks among the NFL's least efficient passers through Week 7 and struggled mightily in the Colts' latest loss: A 16-10 rock fight with the Minnesota Vikings. Despite his rough first two months of the campaign, though, coach Shane Steichen said he has no plans to make a quarterback change.

That leaves Jones entrenched in the lineup for a 2-5 team that ranks 25th in total offense per game.

"I have not thought about a quarterback change," Steichen said after the loss to Minnesota. "I've got a ton of faith in Daniel. The game plan today was to go in and run the football. Obviously, at the end, he had the interception. That happens in football."

The interception in question was a game-sealer. Indianapolis had possession with 1:39 to play on Sunday and needed a touchdown to take a late and potentially decisive lead. Two plays into the Colts' final drive of the game, Jones threw a devastating pick to Vikings safety Harrison Smith. He finished the contest 13-for-22 for 108 yards and took four sacks.

Few quarterbacks have been able to move the ball with any kind of consistency against the ferocious Vikings defense, to be fair. But Jones was a uniquely favorable matchup for Minnesota, considering he has been one of the NFL's worst quarterbacks under pressure this season. The Vikings are the league's most proficient team at pressuring the signal-caller, and coordinator Brian Flores uncorked the pass rush to a historic extent in Week 7 by blitzing Jones on 85.2% of his dropbacks. That was the highest blitz rate by any defense in a game in the Next Gen Stats era (since 2016).

Jones said it "means a lot" to have his coach's confidence after such a rough showing.

"It's my job to play well, to put the team in position to win games," Jones said. "I gotta do a better job of that. I certainly understand that. We all gotta go back to work. I gotta go back to work, see where I can be better."

Daniel Jones stats, rankings

Among 33 qualified passers

Who would the Colts even turn to?

The unfortunate reality for the Colts is that they might be better off with this version of Jones than with either Anthony Richardson or Riley Leonard as their starter. Richardson remains the backup in his fourth NFL season, while the Colts have been designating Leonard as inactive but keeping him available as the emergency third quarterback. Neither backup has any track record of productivity, and both have lower ceilings than Jones displayed in his breakout start to last season.

Indianapolis declined Richardson's fifth-year option but could give him another look in the final year of his rookie contract. Anything the Colts get out of the former No. 4 overall pick would be a bonus at this point, because he is no longer part of the team's long-term plans following a massively disappointing start to his career in which he made just 15 starts over three years and threw more interceptions (13) than touchdowns (11) while completing only 50.6% of his throws. Richardson never developed as a passer and remains only a highly athletic rushing weapon.

Leonard, in his second year as a former sixth-round pick, might not offer much more in the way of passing ability. He made five appearances and one start as a rookie and went 39-for-67 for 415 yards with two touchdowns and three interceptions. While he is also a running threat, the fact that he did not beat Richardson for the No. 2 job indicates the Notre Dame product is even less of an option.

Colts face difficult decisions in 2027 and beyond

One of the final significant moves of Chris Ballard's tenure as general manager before the Colts fired him this month was to extend Jones on a two-year deal. It was a questionable signing in March, considering Jones was coming off a torn Achilles, and so far it has not paid off. Even worse, it ties Indianapolis to Jones through 2027 at a high price.

Jones earns an average annual salary of $44 million and is guaranteed $60 million over the life of the two-year contract. He will carry a $46.8 million salary cap hit next season, so the Colts are likely committed to him as the starter for another year. The hope, of course, is that he will return to the form he showed at the start of 2025 as he becomes further removed from his Achilles tear. But if he does not, then he will be immensely expensive for what he is: One of the league's least productive starting quarterbacks.

Richardson will likely be out of the picture next year, and Leonard is expendable with an annual salary of $1.1 million and effectively no dead cap hit should the Colts release him. Indianapolis could entirely retool the quarterback room behind Jones.

If Indianapolis is not confident in Jones' ability to rebound next year, it could target a quarterback in the draft. This is where the Colts feel the ramifications of the poorly aged Sauce Gardner trade, because that deal leaves them without a first-round pick in 2027.