On Sunday, Daniel Jones will take his first snap behind center for an NFL team other than the New York Giants.
Over the last few months, Jones didn't just win the Colts' quarterback competition – he got acclimated to how head coach Shane Steichen sees and calls an offense. He learned the tendencies of his new teammates, from how they run routes to how they communicate those important details that can make or break a play call. And he learned how all those people, ideas and skillsets fit together, giving him a strong understanding of the ecosystem in which he will operate as QB1 this upcoming season.
Within that, Jones – in a conversation on this week's episode of The Colts Show Podcast – explained what kind of quarterback he wants to be for the 2025 Colts.
"Consistent, good decision-maker, spread the ball around," Jones said. "I think we have an opportunity on offense to be very versatile, to attack defenses in a lot of different ways. Obviously the run game with (Jonathan Taylor) and the guys up front has been a strength, and the guys outside can make a lot of plays down the field. It think being an explosive group who pushes the ball, attacks defenses — that's something that I see for us.
"And as a quarterback, decision-making and accuracy are the two biggest things when it comes to good quarterback play. So that's certainly what I want to be."
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While Jones intends to pick his spots to aggressively push the ball downfield, the way he described himself was sort of like a point guard – the kind of quarterback who can consistently distribute the ball to his playmakers. Jones described Taylor and wide receiver Alec Pierce as "explosive," while the first word that came to mind for wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr. was "reliable." For wide receiver Josh Downs, Jones described him as "smart" with "great instincts," and the first thing that popped into his head for wide receiver Adonai Mitchell was "extremely talented."
For tight end Tyler Warren, Jones said the first-round rookie has tremendous "feel and instinct for space, getting open."
The Colts envisioned those skillsets complementing each other within their offense; Jones sees all of them together as providing game-to-game and even series-to-series versatility in attacking opposing defenses.
"We've got guys who've shown to make big plays time and time again down the field or with the ball in their hands, making people miss," Jones said, "or (we have) tough guys who can go over the middle and make hard catches, who can come up big on third down. (We have) guys who can feel spaces in zones, who can know where other guys are on the field and get open in certain situations. I think there's a lot of strengths across the board."
The other part of the Colts' offense that Jones has learned to appreciate since signing as a free agent in March has been the playcalling mind of Steichen, who he described as "aggressive" in the way he sees offense.
"He wants to take shots, wants to keep the defense on their heels, wants to keep an attacking mindset in what we're doing," Jones said. "As a quarterback, that's what you want – those opportunities to do that and create some of those plays. He's very creative in how he thinks of getting certain players the ball in certain situations, and how he sees our offense and different things he can get to pretty quickly. It's been fun working with him.
"I think he's extremely practical and realistic in terms of, it's not always gotta be some crazy, super exotic idea. A lot of it's pretty straightforward, practical things that come from a lot of similar looks, you can do a lot of different things from them and that keeps defenses guessing."
That straightforward approach is something that benefitted Steichen at every stop he's been a playcaller – from the Los Angeles Chargers to Philadelphia Eagles to the Colts. And it's something Jones likes within an offense, especially one that has so many versatile, complementary weapons like the Colts have.
"There's a lot of genius in that simplicity, right," Jones said. "Guys who can take more complex things and make them simple, make them in a football sense come from a straightforward idea but make it tough for a defense to defend.
"That's what I think a lot of the best coaches do, and he does that well."
