Daniel Jones saved Ballard’s job

[Dam8610]

Originally Posted by Kray007

Make no mistake. Last March, Chris Ballard lucked into the best decision he ever made. He signed Daniel Jones. After years of trying to find someone, he was like the young man at the roulette table in Casablanca. Spin after spin had come up empty, then Rick or fate, the football deities or someone leaned over his shoulder and whispered to put everything on 28.

If he hadn’t signed Jones, if Richardson had been the starter, gone 3-5, gotten hurt, passed the reins to a journeyman QB, and the Colts had finished 5-12, Irsay-Gordon would have cleaned house.

Not a doubt in my mind.

And his Achilles injury also puts the team in a really bad spot. Given the trade the Colts made at the trade deadline, the Colts have to re-sign him, but even though he'll likely be cleared for football activity by training camp, his health and the level at which he'll be able to perform in the 2026 season will be in question. Then there's the 2 guys behind him. We got no looks at Anthony Richardson in 2026 thanks to a resistance band, but he certainly still has a great deal of potential. Then there's Riley Leonard. Pressed into emergency duty against the Jaguars, he performed about as well as one could expect under the circumstances. Then, when given an opportunity to prepare for a start, he put up 30 points on the #1 defense in the NFL. Given all that, what do you do? The team is obviously not going to pick up AR's 5YO, so do you trade him? Because clearly Leonard is at least a quality backup, but AR has more potential, and in the brief time we saw him in preseason, he looked much more accurate. Do you just make it an open competition again? Do you trade one of Richardson or Leonard? Whether they're able to get this decision right will likely determine the future of this front office.