Daniel Jones Takes the Field for Colts OTAs: Why 7-on-7 Drills Have Indianapolis Believing in A Elite Game Week 1
The Indianapolis Colts are currently staging their annual spring football ritual known as OTAs, and the biggest story in town isn’t the humid Indiana weather. It’s Daniel Jones, wearing a horseshoe on his helmet, slinging footballs in 7-on-7 drills less than six months after tearing his Achilles tendon. If you had “Danny Dimes pulls off a Wolverine-esque healing factor in Indianapolis” on your 2026 NFL offseason bingo card, please go collect your winnings.
For a guy whose contract extension in New York aged like fine milk, Jones is suddenly the beacon of hope in Indy. After the Colts rewarded him with a massive two-year, $88 million contract this offseason, the collective groan from parts of the fan base could be heard from Lucas Oil Stadium all the way to Bloomington. But if his latest practice performance is any indication, head coach Shane Steichen might actually know what he’s doing.
Breaking Down the 7-on-7 Tape: The Good, the Bad, and the Airmail
Look, we need to treat June football practice with a massive grain of salt. Nobody is wearing pads, the pass rush is entirely fictional, and Steichen has strictly forbidden anyone from breathing too heavily on his multi-million-dollar asset. But even within the bubble-wrapped environment of 7-on-7 drills, Jones looked surprisingly sharp.
Daniel Jones Monday OTA Stat Line:[Pass Attempts: 6] ➔ [Completions: 5] ➔ [Incompletions: 1] ➔ [Touchdowns: 1]
Jones finished his most extensive period of team work going 5-of-6. He opened up the session by threading a tight-window pass to rookie tight end Tyler Warren, which probably made general manager Chris Ballard look incredibly smart for a brief fleeting moment. He followed that up by finding Josh Downs for a couple of easy chunk plays.
The lone blemish? A beautifully executed airmail over the head of Ashton Dulin in the back of the end zone. Luckily for Jones, Dulin bailed his quarterback out later in the drill, fully extending to snag a high throw for a touchdown. Jones immediately gave Dulin a appreciative pat on the helmet, which functionally translates to, “Thank you for making sure the media didn’t tweet about an interception.”
The Achilles Timeline: Running Ahead of Schedule
To understand why this is a big deal, you have to look at the calendar. Jones shredded his Achilles on December 7, 2025. Standard medical science dictates that an athlete should still be re-learning how to jog at this point. Instead, Jones is dropping back, planting his feet, and driving the ball downfield.
Steichen was quick to temper expectations after practice, noting that 7-on-7 work is the absolute ceiling for Jones this spring. The Colts have no intention of letting him anywhere near an 11-on-11 team drill until training camp kicks off at Grand Park in late July. It’s an exercise in forced patience for a player who clearly wants to prove his New York critics wrong.
“I understand the process, and you got to hit your marks,” Jones told reporters, sporting his usual stoic, slightly vacant press conference expression. “I have a lot of trust and faith in myself to do the work and put myself in a position to play.”
The Backup Conundrum and Week 1 Realities
While Jones is busy defying medical timelines, the rest of the Colts’ quarterback room is a fascinating science experiment. Anthony Richardson Sr. and rookie Riley Leonard are currently splitting first-team reps, which mostly consists of them trading spectacular athletic plays with wildly errant snaps from backup centers. The team even signed veteran Easton Stick this week just to ensure someone on the roster actually understands Steichen’s playbook from his Chargers days.
But make no mistake: this is Daniel Jones’ team for 2026. NFL insiders are already reporting that rival organizations—specifically the Baltimore Ravens, who happen to be Indy’s Week 1 opponent on September 13th—are fully preparing to face Jones under center.
Is it risky to pin the franchise’s hopes on a quarterback with a medical history that reads like a casualty report? Absolutely. Between the neck issues, the 2023 ACL tear, and the recent Achilles injury, Jones is an insurance adjuster’s worst nightmare. But for one afternoon in June, watching him spin a football into tight windows made the $88 million price tag feel just a little bit lighter.
