Colts Camp — Aug 31: Jones Held Out, Three Quarterbacks Kept

Daniel Jones will take his first game snaps since his Achilles tear in Week 1 against the Baltimore Ravens, because the Colts decided he would not take them in the preseason. The team announced the day before Saturday's finale that Jones and Jonathan Taylor would sit, per JJ Stankevitz at the team's website, with no reason given. That reverses the plan our last episode closed on: Shane Steichen had indicated the starters would play against the Lions, which would have been Jones' first live action since the injury that ended his 2025 season in December. Most of the starters did play — Steichen's stated plan was 8 to 12 snaps, and several got in and out in a single series — so the plan held for everyone except the quarterback it mattered most for. Jones enters the opener with glowing joint-practice reports and zero game reps behind them.

The room around him got its answer, though. The initial 53 the Colts announced Sunday carries all three quarterbacks — Jones, Riley Leonard and Anthony Richardson Sr. — per Stankevitz, which resolves the watch item we left open: the signaled three-quarterback preference survived the math. The cost was Easton Stick, released one day after playing the entire second half of the finale, 8 of 15 for 78 yards. What the roster did not resolve is the order. Richardson started the finale and went 7 of 10 for 80 yards into the second quarter; Leonard went 3 of 7 for 48 with an interception, and Richardson finished the preseason 21 of 33 for 249 yards to Leonard's 20 of 42 for 199, per Abby Halpin at the team's website. Steichen assessed the battle afterward without picking: "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," per Halpin. Richardson, who requested a trade in the spring and is now on the 53, kept his answer simple: "I just wanted to go out there and operate the offense and be confident." No backup has been named.

The kicker battle ended without ambiguity. Spencer Shrader won the job and the Colts waived Blake Grupe on Sunday, per Stankevitz, and the resume reads like a closing argument: Shrader finished the preseason 5 for 5 from 46, 48, 57, 60 and 61 yards, the 60-yarder coming on his lone attempt in the finale. Grupe made his two first-half tries Saturday, from 46 and 36, and it wasn't enough. Stankevitz's own read is that Grupe — who joined in December — "very well could quickly wind up on another team's roster as their kicker this week." That's an expectation, not a transaction; nothing exists until the wire clears.

Cutdown day also produced a trade. The Colts acquired center Sedrick Van Pran-Granger and a 2027 seventh-round pick from the Bills for a 2027 sixth-round pick, per Stankevitz — terms Buffalo's site matches, per Maddy Glab — bringing in a 24-year-old 2024 fifth-rounder with 31 games and two starts. The context is the rest of the interior ledger: Josh Kreutz, Jimmy Morrissey and Geno VanDeMark, all centers, were among the waived, and guard Josh Sills was released, per Stankevitz's moves list, leaving Van Pran-Granger as the lone reserve center behind Tanor Bortolini on the published 53.

The rest of the ledger, compressed. The Colts made 29 waivers, six releases and three injured-reserve moves before Sunday's 6 p.m. deadline, per Stankevitz. The releases leaned veteran: tight end Pharaoh Brown, defensive tackle Derrick Nnadi, receiver Nick Westbrook-Ikhine and safety Juanyeh Thomas, along with Sills and Stick. Receiver Anthony Gould was waived a day after leading Colts receivers with four catches for 51 yards in the finale, and 2023 draft pick Blake Freeland was among the waived tackles. The 53 keeps only three running backs — Taylor, DJ Giddens and Seth McGowan — and nine offensive linemen, per Stankevitz's roster announcement. Tyler Warren, the tight end whose groin injury we tracked from the August 19 joint practice, made the roster; Will Mallory, who had taken Warren's first-team snaps, went to injured reserve with a return designation; receivers D.J. Montgomery and Coleman Owen also went to injured reserve. Cornerback Charvarius Ward Sr., back from the back injury that cost him the Atlanta week, returned to practice before the finale and made the 53, per Stankevitz.

The finale itself: a 25-16 loss to the Lions at Lucas Oil Stadium, mostly useful for who touched the field and left healthy. Sauce Gardner played four snaps and intercepted a pass to end Detroit's first drive, his first interception since 2024 — "It's definitely great to make that play right before the season," per Stankevitz. DeForest Buckner played four snaps with a pressure and a tackle in his first live action since neck surgery: "It was a great feeling." Keenan Allen caught a 24-yard pass on the opening drive and was done after three snaps. The rookies carried the rest — Giddens scored his first career touchdown, and Halpin's recap counted forced takeaways from Bryce Boettcher, George Gumbs Jr. and CJ Allen.

One more delta: Alec Pierce was activated from the reserve/physically-unable-to-perform list Thursday, per Halpin, taking individual drills but not team periods, and wants to be 100% for Week 1 against the Baltimore Ravens. That is the reported goal — the team has not ruled on it, and no comments from Steichen or Chris Ballard on the cuts had been published at the team's site through Monday.

Back in July we previewed this team as one the market was pricing on a tendon rather than a team — a win total built on doubt about Jones' surgically repaired Achilles instead of the offense around it. All August the camp evidence ran one direction: two joint practices against starting defenses, a Wednesday where Jones completed every pass he threw. Cut day didn't change that read; it just guaranteed the market's question gets answered in a real game. The proof the doubters wanted never made it to a preseason field, so the tendon and the Ravens meet cold.

What to watch next: the waiver wire and the practice squads behind it — where Grupe, Gould, Stick, Freeland and the rest of the cuts land is the next episode's job. Then the two open Week 1 questions: whether Steichen names a backup quarterback, and whether Pierce's individual drills become team periods. We'll check back once the claims and the practice squads are in.

_Data via nflverse._