WESTFIELD, Ind. – Daniel Jones took off and ran a couple times during Saturday's training camp practice at Grand Park, which was moved indoors due to inclement weather.
And there was even a play in the low red zone that appeared to be a designed run for the 29-year-old quarterback. Jones dashed into the end zone on it for a touchdown.
The Colts held four practices in as many days this week, and we'll let tight end Mo Alie-Cox drive home the biggest takeaway from the first stretch of training camp – which is about Jones.
"He looks like he never got hurt," Alie-Cox said. "He's throwing dimes left and right on the field, getting out the pocket, scrambling and different things like that."
Jones earlier this week cautioned he still has boxes to check between now and Week 1 of the 2026 season. This is a guy who sustained a torn Achilles' just under eight months ago, after all. He still has to get his body used to this sort of movement again, and will go through that process over the next six or so weeks.
But then you see Jones hit a play-action rollout to Tyler Warren on one play, scramble on another and move in a manner that reminds you of the quarterback he was over the first half of the 2025 season.
"He's been incredible. He's back like he's never left," left guard Quenton Nelson said. "He worked so hard to get here. It's been awesome to see."
The only recent comparisons the NFL has for quarterback comebacks from Achilles' injuries have been Kirk Cousins and Aaron Rodgers, who both returned in 2024 after season-ending injuries in 2023. Neither quarterback moved particularly well after, but there's important context here: Cousins was 35 and Rodgers was 40 upon sustaining their respective injuries. And both, prior to those injuries, were very much pocket passers.
General manager Chris Ballard touched on this back in January.
"The history of guys coming back has been pretty good, and they've been older than Daniel," Ballard said. "Daniel is 28 years old (at the time). He's a pretty freaky talent in terms of athletic ability."
Prescribing anything from Cousins' or Rodgers' returns to Jones, from a mobility standpoint, always felt like apples to oranges. And that's been proven to be the case early in camp, as Jones has darted around the practice fields of Grand Park with a familiar level of athleticism for him.
Alie-Cox and his teammates have seen it as a sigh of relief – and a sign of where their QB1 stands as the calendar flips to August.
"Some guys coming off that injury might not try to escape the pocket and different things like that," Alie-Cox said. "But especially being in a practice setting, you don't have to go out there and do that. So him doing that just shows us all he's ready."
News & Notes from Saturday's practice:
- Jones' most impressive play of the day arguably was a touchdown he threw to a leaping Tyler Warren during an 11-on-11 red zone period. Jones looked off a defender to create time for Warren to find open space in the end zone and zipped a pass to the second-year tight end for the score.
- Wide receiver Laquon Treadwell grabbed a touchdown in 11-on-11 red zone work as well.
- Wide receiver Josh Downs had a handful of catches on Saturday, too.
- The Colts held one-on-one receiver vs. cornerback drills for the first time during camp, and cornerback Justin Walley's tight coverage forced an incompletion on a throw to Downs. Walley also had a PBU during early 11-on-11 work.
- Cornerback Sauce Gardner notched a pass break-up in 11-on-11.
- Wide receiver Nick Westbrook-Ikhine hauled in a deep ball from quarterback Riley Leonard toward the end of practice. It was part of a move-the-ball period that later saw tight end Drew Ogletree show good balance and concentration to catch a tipped Leonard pass for a score.
- Head coach Shane Steichen was not at practice due to a personal matter.
