Colts make final decision on Daniel Jones’ role on their 2026 QB depth chart amid free agency, injury originally appeared on The Sporting News.
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The Indianapolis Colts are entering into a tricky offseason at the quarterback position.

Daniel Jones, who finally looked like the answer at QB, tore his Achilles and is in the midst of recovery. Anthony Richardson could be a trade candidate. They’ve also got sixth-rounder Riley Leonard coming off the finish to his rookie year.

A lot could depend on whether Jones is going to be ready to go in Week 1.

But it turns out, the Colts are already feeling pretty secure in what they have with Jones, regardless.

“In any case, barring a stunning turn of events, Jones will be the Colts’ starting quarterback in 2026,” ESPN’s Stephen Holder wrote in a new article on Monday.

In that article, Holder broke down all the tricky parts of the equation, from the injury to Richardson to the fact that Jones is a free agent and needs some kind of new contract that is now complicated by the Achilles concern.

But that’s how he wrapped it up. The Colts seemingly have no doubt in their mind who their quarterback is.

Whether Jones is ready for Week 1 or not remains to be seen, so they might have to figure out what their best stopgap option is.

Despite that, though, Jones seemingly gets some strong reassurance from this stance by the Colts. It could be intimidating to go through such a big injury rehab and not even know what awaits when you return.

But Jones can know that he’s the guy for the Colts. It’s just up to him to get back on the field and keep performing to the level he knows he can reach.