The fall, rise and fall of Daniel Jones and his Cinderella season

 There’s 40 seconds left in the first quarter of this Sunday night football game in week 14. The Colts are down 14 to 7 to the Jaguars and are looking for a touchdown drive. Daniel Jones is having an amazing season as he’s blowing pre-season expectations out of the water after his below-average career with the New York Giants. He takes the snap and starts moving around the back field. He’s about to throw, but then he falls.  

Daniel Jones has had a below average career overall, but for a while, he had been looking like a leader for a Super-Bowl-contending team. His tenure with his previous team, the New York Giants wasn’t what people expected after his high draft pick and great rookie season. But this 25-26 season with the Colts was amazing for him and Indianapolis. His most recent Achilles injury puts an end to that inspiring comeback story.

The lead up to Jones’s season ending injury foretold the coming disaster. In week 12 Daniel Jones fractured his left fibula but decided to play through the pain. He used a 3D printed mold to relieve pressure on his fibula as he continued to play the entire game on week 13. The following week was when the final injury occurred. 

Jones’s simply took a snap, lined up to pass, then took a bad step and fell. 

An MRI confirmed that Jones had torn his Achillies Tendon, which will require surgery. He’ll have to sit out the rest of the season and slowly work in physical therapy to hopefully come back next season 100%. 

This is a dramatic reversal of fortune for the team. The Colts started the season 7-1 through week eight led by Daniel Jones exceptional play being a top ten quarterback. His season was looking good until his interceptions started stacking up in an important loss against the Steelers.  

Nevertheless, Daniel Jones was still impressive averaging a 100.2 passer rating this season. It also doesn’t help his stats that his last game against the Jaguars had a stunted 57.7 passer rating where he would throw one interception and tear his Achillies in the first quarter. Even so, this is a very promising season for Daniel Jones as a player securing him at least another contract in the NFL next season.  

Daniel Jones has been a leader for the Indianapolis Colts this season as they were tied for first in their division before the injury. All season he’s been showing off his range averaging 8.1 yards per throw as he’s fifth in the league in passing yards. This season has been special for Daniel Jones as he had career highs in many categories and with his performances in the past two seasons being subjectively bad.  

Few were expecting a comeback this great. 

Back in April 2019, the Giants officially drafted Daniel into the NFL. “We’re thrilled to get Daniel … he is just perfect for us,” said Dave Gettleman, the former General Manager of the Giants. “We really believe in this kid, and we really believe he’s gonna be a nice, not a nice, a really quality quarterback.” 

However, fans didn’t feel the same, as many disliked the general manager for his sixth overall selection. Reactions from fans on this draft pick were negative. A tweet from Barstool Sports stated, “Daniel Jones was drafted 20 minutes ago, and he’s already been booed at MetLife Stadium.” Attached was a video of thousands of NYG fans at MetLife stadium booing the sixth overall selection. Many fans thought he wasn’t worth such a high draft pick as he was projected to be drafted in the second round, and his college stats were below average for a first-round pick, let alone sixth overall. 

Nevertheless, Daniel Jones would go into the new year as the backup to Eli Manning.  

After two consecutive losses, Daniel Jones was named the starter for week three against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. In this game, Jones would lead the team with 336 passing yards, two touchdowns and a 112.7 passer rating to take them from, down 10-28 at halftime to his first career win and start. He also rushed for 28 yards and two rushing touchdowns.  

This performance shifted the spotlight on to Daniel and began to change the opinions of many fans.   

Dan Schneier of CBS sports wrote at the time, “Jones has gone from the poster boy of everything wrong with the Giants franchise under Dave Gettleman and Pat Shurmur to its potential savior.”   

Throughout the season, Jones would have some great games and bad games but overall had a decent rookie season. 

This solid season left many Giants fans excited. “Daniel Jones had an up and down year,” wrote Rowais Hanna on Medium, “flashing moments of brilliance and moments of, well, a rookie in the NFL.”  

His rookie season was pretty solid besides his abysmal 18 fumbles, but compared to what people expected, he looked good. 

His second season saw a significant drop in touchdown passes while his interceptions held steady. His third season in 2021 was slightly better than his sophomore season, but he still had few touchdowns passes. 

With the Giants, Daniel Jones was originally implemented to replace the franchise quarterback Eli Manning, a potential hall of famer. However, due to a severely underwhelming second season, things were not looking good. 

A promising 2022 season landed him a four-year, $160 million contract but the following year he tore his right ACL in week nine against the Raiders. On top of that, the six games that he did play, he had six interceptions and two touchdowns.  

2023 was his worst season by far, and with a below average passer rating of 70.6.  

His future within the NFL was not looking bright.

In 2024, he started the first 10 games. But with his inconsistent play and terrible offence, he was benched for the remainder of the season. After being relegated to the role of scout-team safety for practices, Jones went to the Giants ownership and asked for his release.  

“It had to happen,” commentator Emmanual Acho said on The Facility. “Daniel Jones, he had to be released. … He was ruining the integrity of the New York Giants fan base. … This is not an inditement on Daniel Jones as a human being or his character, but his performance did not meet the criteria of an NFL starting quarterback. It had to happen.” 

In the 2025 offseason, Jones was a free agent.  He later signed with the Indianapolis Colts for one year, $14 million–almost three times lower than what he signed in New York. This was seen as a “prove-it” deal. A final chance to prove to fans, coaches and the league that he is still an NFL worthy starter. 

Going into the pre-season, it was a tossup in Indianapolis on who would start, the young Anthony Richardson, or Daniel Jones. Fighting through the preseason would lead Daniel Jones to come out victorious as the starter for week one of the upcoming NFL season. The reaction was expected as it was full of dislike and skepticism of Jones due to his previous seasons with the Giants. 

Going into this game, Daniel Jones knew he could prove his hater’s wrong.  

Daniel Jones played exceptionally well in his first game with the Colts. Having a passer rating of 115.9 and 3 total touchdowns, Daniel Jones was looking promising. His team didn’t punt a single time or have an interception in his entire debut game. 

Since this game, Daniel Jones has been better than ever with a record of 8-5 in week 14. He led the Colts to a 3-0 start for the first time since 2009, also making history as the first team to ever go the first 2 games without punting the ball. He’s averaging a passer rating of 100.2 this season, which is 7.7 points more than his best season with the Giants.

However, not all his success is due to his own play. The offensive line is crucial to having quality throws and healthy quarterbacks. With the Colts, the O line is great with Daniel Jones having more time to think and look for an open receiver. Not only that, but the running back, Jonathan Taylor, is posing a huge threat, freeing up even more space for Daniel. In New York, his offensive line was considered one of the worst in the league. He was often rushed, sacked, and hit but still constantly blamed.  

Whenever Jones has a solid running back on his side, he tends to play well. In 2022 with Saquan Barkley, he had an exceptional season which landed him his big contract. Now, with Taylor, we saw the same thing happening again, and Daniel Jones was playing better than ever. 

All this, has now ended with a disappointing 8-5 record and Daniel Jones not being able to help the Colts race for the playoffs due to two serious leg injuries—one in each leg. 

Fans went to X and expressed their sorrow with many prayers’ emoji’s and positive messages for the Colts quarterback. With Jones’s teammates expressing their gratitude but also looking into the future of their season. 

The season is still going on, and the Colts’ entire quarterback room is out with injury, leading them to sign 44-year-old Phillip Rivers who threw his last ball in the NFL in 2020 at 39 years old.  

Colts head coach Shane Steichen talked about Jones’ injury saying it was “not looking good.” Not only talking about the injury but also the outlook for the season. 

All in all, with the help of his O line as well as offensive player of the year front runner Jonathan Taylor, Daniel Jones and the Colts were looking like a Super Bowl contending team. Unfortunately ending in a bitter injury ending Daniel Jones impressive run. All this success in which, led by a guy that many people gave up on after his release. 

Cover Image: New York Giants YouTube channel