Unfortunately, the human Achilles' tendon has been in the news far too much here in Indiana.

We're all scarred from watching Tyrese Haliburton pound his fist into the court at the Paycom Center in Oklahoma City last June. And we're all scarred from watching Daniel Jones slam his helmet into the rainy turf at EverBank Stadium in Jacksonville last December. Two guys who were poised to lead Indiana sports to glory had their journeys cut short due to sustaining torn Achilles' in remarkably cruel moments – Haliburton in Game 7 of the NBA Finals, Jones with the AFC South on the line in the Colts' north Florida house of horrors.

The Pacers, given the end-of-season timing of their star's injury, relatively quickly ruled Haliburton out for the 2025-2026 NBA season. From the outside, there seemed to be an assumption that Jones, upon tearing his Achilles' on Dec. 7, would struggle to make it back for the start of 2026 NFL season. Maybe it was because we had collectively just been through it with Haliburton, and we as fans hadn't quite processed our emotions from his injury yet (you can't tell me the Pacers wouldn't have won Game 7 with the way he started in it).

But if you listened to Jones, the immediate expectation from him was that he'd be back not just for the first game of 2026; he'd be back for the start of training camp.

"Obviously it's a long process in the recovery and there's a timeframe to it, you gotta check a lot of boxes along the way," Jones said on Jan. 5, less than a month after his injury and subsequent surgery. "But I expect to be ready to go by training camp. We'll attack the process and make sure I'm ready to go."

The word on Jones has been that he's practically lived at the Indiana Farm Bureau Football Center for the last six months. If he hasn't been rehabbing to prep his body for the 2026 season, he's been studying to prep his mind for the 2026 season. In April, head coach Shane Steichen revealed Jones was already dropping back and throwing; by mid-May, Jones was throwing to teammates in individual periods of the Colts' first week of OTA practices.

A week later, Jones began participating in seven-on-seven portions of practice. Sure, there was no pass rush and no offensive linemen on the field – as in, no chance a big guy's errant step could land on Jones' surgically-repaired foot – but getting those reps before training camp has been important.

"It's just getting back in the flow of practice, and for one, just preparing for practice and going out there competing," Jones said. "Then yeah, timing, seeing receivers, seeing the defense, making reads, getting the ball out on time – I think all those things are very valuable."

And, to be clear: Jones said he asked about participating in full-team portions of the Colts' veteran minicamp practices this week.

"We want to be super smart with him," Steichen said. "I mean, could he potentially do it (11-on-11)? Yeah, probably. He probably could, but we're not going to do that right now."

Despite Jones' progress, the Colts have been and will continue to take a deliberate approach with increasing their quarterback's workload. The goal is to have Jones ready for training camp, but work still has to be done to get him to that point, and neither the Colts nor Jones want to feel like any part of this process is rushed.

Still, Steichen confirmed the expectation is Jones will begin participating in full-team portions of practice when training camp starts. The fact that won't be rushed is a testament to the work Jones has put in over the last six months.

"Very happy with his progress," Steichen said. "He's hitting all his landmarks each and every week, every day, putting in the work, but he's feeling good. It was good to get him out there last week in seven-on-seven. Do it again this week. Then I know he'll work tirelessly this summer to be ready for training camp."

So what does it mean for the 2026 Colts season?

That Jones has been taking practice reps over the last few weeks means he'll have a foundation on which to build during training camp. He of course has experience throwing to guys like Alec Pierce, Tyler Warren and Josh Downs, but it's more about Jones getting used to his new normal in a post-Achilles' tear world.

Steichen, though, doesn't expect to dramatically alter what he'll ask Jones to do once September rolls around – at least not with the way Jones has rehabbed and progressed to date.

"It depends on how he's feeling," Steichen said. "He's on track right now, so I think that's a big part of it. But again, I mean if he's full go and ready to go, we're not going to hold back anything."

Something general manager Chris Ballard emphasized this offseason is Jones' age (29) and athletic ability against concerns he'd wind up in the same realm as Kirk Cousins and Aaron Rodgers – quarterbacks who struggled the year following a torn Achilles'. But Cousins was 36 and Rodgers 41 upon returning; neither are known as the athlete Jones is.

The Colts don't need Jones' return to look like a Jayden Daniels impression. They need it to look like Jones in 2025: A quarterback possessing a mind meld with his head coach and playcaller, and someone consistently able to get his offense into the right play (or out of the wrong one) and deliver passes with accuracy and timing.

Jones in 2025 averaged a career-low 3.5 rushing attempts per game; the Colts averaged 63 plays per game. A dozen of Jones' 45 rushing attempts – a little over 25 percent – were quarterback sneaks. His mobility on play-action rollouts will be important, but it's not like the Colts' offense is built around his ability to rip off six or seven designed runs or scrambles per game.

Plus: A year ago, Steichen built an offense perfectly tailored to Jones' strengths. Because both coach and quarterback see the game the same way, expect Steichen to be able to do the same in 2026 whether Jones is ultimately impacted by the Achilles' or not.

We'll see. But everything is on track – still with important work ahead – for Jones to get a lengthy runway to build up to 1 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 13, when he aims to take the field at Lucas Oil Stadium against the Baltimore Ravens.

"I think I'm closer," Jones said. I think there's still work to be done. I wouldn't say I'm all the way there at this point. So yeah, I mean I feel good about where I am, and kind of where the rehab is taking me to this point. So like I said, still work to do and still got to make some progress, but I feel like I'm in a good spot."