Daniel Jones’ Injury Screws Colts After Risky NFL Trade Deadline Moves

In sports, the worst thing you can do is miscalculate where you’re at as an organization.

At the 2025 NFL trade deadline, it’s looking as if the Indianapolis Colts might have done just that.

The Colts went into November's deadline at 7-2. Undoubtedly, they were one of the hottest teams in the AFC, capitalizing on a reclamation year out of former New York Giants first-round draft pick Daniel Jones.

At the deadline, the Colts traded two first-round draft picks to the New York Jets for Sauce Gardner, one of the best cornerbacks in football.

Since then, the Colts have come back to Earth.

Gardner suffered a noncontact calf injury that isn’t as serious as it initially looked. The Colts have won just one game since making the blockbuster trade. And now, things have taken a turn for the worse.

Jones suffered a ruptured Achilles injury, ending his promising reclamation season and potentially setting the Colts back several years.

With Jones succeeding, it looked like the Colts found a perfect bridge off of Anthony Richardson, the flashy Florida quarterback who greatly struggled during his limited action in the NFL. While Richardson was the No. 4 overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, it was Jones that seemed primed to quarterback the Colts to the promised land.

Richardson suffered a broken orbital during warmups in Week 6. While he’s eligible to be activated at some point this season, he still has not been cleared for a return. While it certainly felt like the former top five draft selection is no longer in the long-term plans – but he might need to be.

Jones will likely miss most of next season due to the ruptured Achilles tendon. Former Notre Dame quarterback Riley Leonard has been serving as the team’s backup with Richardson sidelined, but he’s not a legitimate option in the modern NFL.

While the injury to Jones might have doomed any hope that Indianapolis had at the postseason this year, it also clouds their long-term view.

Indy’s first-round picks in 2026 and 2027 belong to the Jets. That’s going to make it almost impossible to select another first-round quarterback.

It feels like the Colts will be forced into trying another reclamation project at quarterback. Perhaps they roll the dice and trade for Mac Jones, who looked good in replacement of Brock Purdy for the San Francisco 49ers. Maybe they can get the Cleveland Browns on the horn and trade for Deshaun Watson or Dillon Gabriel with Shedeur Sanders emerging.

The future surrounding the Colts is tremendously muddy.

It’s hard to blame them for making a trade that would have accelerated their timeline to contend for a Super Bowl, but without a franchise quarterback on the roster, this was always the risk.