Daniel Jones Camp Update — August 31: The First Snaps Wait for Baltimore
2026 NFL Season · Monday, Aug 31
Daniel Jones was held out of the preseason finale a day before kickoff, no reason given, reversing his coach's stated plan — so his first game snaps since the December Achilles tear will come in Week One against Baltimore. The roster Indianapolis announced Sunday kept all three quarterbacks, per the Colts' website, and no backup has been named.
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The plan reversed a day before kickoff. Shane Steichen had indicated the starters would play in Saturday's finale against Detroit — somewhere between eight and 12 plays, per JJ Stankevitz at the Colts' website — and it held for most of them: Keenan Allen got in and out in three snaps, DeForest Buckner four, Sauce Gardner four. It did not hold for the quarterback. Daniel Jones was held out, along with Jonathan Taylor, announced Friday, no reason given, per Stankevitz. That closes the preseason at zero game snaps, which means Jones's first live football since the Achilles tear that ended his season last December will be a regular-season game against Baltimore.
Cut day answered its own question cleanly: the initial 53 carries all three quarterbacks — Jones, Riley Leonard and Anthony Richardson Sr. — per Stankevitz, and the cost of that preference was Easton Stick, released a day after playing the entire second half of the finale. The backup job behind Jones has not been named. Richardson started Saturday and finished the preseason 21 of 33 for 249 yards; Leonard went 20 of 42 for a hundred 99, per Abby Halpin at the Colts' website — and Steichen declined to pick: "I thought Anthony had some good drives... I think Riley did some good things as well, I just obviously don't want to turn it over in the redzone." That is where it rests.
One move bears directly on Jones's protection: the Colts traded a 20 27 sixth-round pick to Buffalo for center Sedrick Van Pran-Granger and a 20 27 seventh, per Stankevitz, and after waiving three other centers he is the only reserve center on a nine-lineman roster.
The June read said the pre-injury production was real — 3101 yards, 19 touchdowns against eight interceptions in 13 games in 20 25, our numbers — and the tendon was the one question no pattern could price. August answered it one environment at a time: two straight weeks against other teams' starting defenses, a joint practice against Atlanta without an incompletion, Josh Downs saying he'd forgotten the injury existed, and Jones's own concession that his pre-injury top speed isn't back. That whole ledger still stands. What changed this week is the shape of the final entry: eight months on from the tear, a summer of clean practice evidence, zero game evidence, and no game evidence coming until it counts. The tendon's first real test is now the season opener, and we'll take it up when Baltimore does.
_Data via nflverse._
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