Daniel Jones Is Playing His Way Into Another Massive Contract

Danny Dimes is playing like the best QB in the league for the Colts, which could lead to a huge offseason payday in a poor free agency class.

Daniel Jones has been the best player in the NFL through three weeks of the 2025 season. It felt weird typing it, and it may also feel surreal watching him lead the Indianapolis Colts‘ offense with incredible efficiency and precision.

Indy steamrolled the Tennessee Titans 41-20 on Sunday, with Jones completing 18 of his 25 passes for 228 yards and a touchdown, relying heavily on in-form star running back Jonathan Taylor in the win. The 3-0 Colts are the league’s top offense, with a total of 103 points that even Peyton Manning‘s offenses never bested. They’ve committed zero turnovers and punted the ball once. The only other team in NFL history to start 3-0 and punt fewer than five times was the 2007 New England Patriots, which set records for points scored, most touchdowns, most first downs, highest point differential, and was one Super Bowl win away from completing the first 16-game undefeated regular season.

Prior to Monday’s game, Jones sits first in the league in ESPN QBR, first in yards per attempt, first in percentage of sacks taken, second in yards per completion, third in passer rating, third in completion percentage, and fifth in passing yards per game. If Danny Dimes continues playing at an MVP level on his one-year Colts contract, he’s poised to cash in on a huge payday this offseason and earn millions in incentives. If Sam Darnold can get a three-year, $100 million contract from the Seattle Seahawks for helping the Minnesota Vikings reach the playoffs last year, Jones can be looking at a contract in the $35-40 million range annually.

Daniel Jones looking a bit Josh Alleny this season pic.twitter.com/3hLig38JGR
— NFL on CBS 🏈 (@NFLonCBS) September 22, 2025

Jones’ one-year, $14 million deal for 2025 is looking like a bargain for Indianapolis and a strong stepping stone for the 28-year-old. Per Spotrac, he earns $50,000 for every game he’s on the active roster, $100,000 for every game the Colts win and he plays at least half the offensive snaps in, and an extra $1 million if Indy makes the playoffs and Jones plays in at least 60% of the snaps. For every playoff game Indianapolis wins and Jones plays at least half the snaps in, he gets an extra $250,000, which means additional millions for a player in an ideal position in free agency next March.

As of right now, barring cuts and cap casualties down the line, the only three players who began the year as a starting quarterback are set to hit unrestricted free agency after the season: Jones, Aaron Rodgers, and Russell Wilson. With the other two QBs on their last legs as NFL players, not just viable starters, Jones may have the market to himself for any team in need of a starter who can consistently win in this league.

Daniel Jones makes something out of nothing for 17 yards

INDvsTEN on CBS/Paramount+https://t.co/HkKw7uXVnt pic.twitter.com/kvzIG0C0qB
— NFL (@NFL) September 21, 2025

We’ve also seen this narrative before with Jones. After three middling to disappointing seasons with the New York Giants following their selection of him as the sixth overall pick in the 2019 draft out of Duke, he was playing for a new contract in 2022, as Big Blue needed to make a decision on his fifth-year option. Jones put up career-highs in yards and touchdowns, led the league with the lowest interception rate, orchestrated five game-winning drives, and helped the Giants win a playoff game.

Duly impressed, New York gave Jones a four-year, $160 million contract extension in March 2023 with $82 million guaranteed. He then proceeded to start just 16 games over the next two seasons, going 3-13 over that span with more interceptions than touchdowns and an anemic 36.3 QBR. Just 20 months after signing that massive deal, in November 2024, the Giants and Jones mutually agreed to part ways as they decided to start Tommy DeVito and Drew Lock for the remainder of the season.

All the Colts were looking for was a quarterback to compete with talented but inconsistent holdover Anthony Richardson for the starting job. They took a flyer on Jones, hoping he’d somehow help a team that wasn’t far off from the playoffs last year with Richardson and Joe Flacco at quarterback. Obviously, Jones has blown expectations out of the water over the Colts’ first three games, but there’s also been precedent for a steep regression, perhaps making teams wary of giving a financial commitment the Giants laid out two-and-a-half years ago.

There’s no question that Danny Dimes is playing at an elite level right now. If he leads the Colts to the playoffs for the first time in five seasons, Jones is going to command a big contract next offseason with little competition on the QB market. The pathway is there for Daniel Jones to once again cash in on another transformative contract year under center.