For the first half of the 2025 NFL season, Daniel Jones was one of the top candidates to win MVP. That obviously didn’t end up happening, as he suffered a season-ending injury and missed the final four games of the year. That said, his breakout year for the Indianapolis Colts was something to behold.
It’s not often that a quality starting quarterback hits the open market. Jones is certainly a unique case, since he struggled mightily during his time with the New York Giants. 2025 was the best season he’s had in three years, so the sample size of franchise-caliber play isn’t all that large.
That said, he might be hitting free agency at the right time. Sam Darnold just won the Super Bowl on a similar arc of failed first-round pick to backup to franchise QB. Jones looked the part in 2025, which should get him plenty of money. These four teams would be his best landing spots in this year’s free agency period.
Indianapolis Colts
In spite of their brutal final four games of the season, the Colts still had the fifth-best offense by PFSN’s Offense Impact Metric in 2025. A lot of that comes down to how well Jones performed in Indianapolis’ offense. He’s played the best football of his NFL career with them, so it would make sense for him to want to stay there.
Having traded their first-round pick to the Jets for Sauce Gardner, the Colts wouldn’t have an early draft pick to draft a replacement if Jones leaves. He’s far and away the best quarterback currently slated to hit the open market, too. The best option for both parties involved would be for Jones to sign a contract extension with Indianapolis.
New York Jets
Jones spent the first six years of his NFL career in New York with the Giants, where he got his first big payday. Could he also get his second big payday in the Big Apple, just with a different team? The local media would have a field day with him signing with the Jets, that’s for sure.
With the fourth-most cap space in the NFL this offseason, the Jets would have more financial flexibility than the Colts to pay Jones what he wants. New York has the No. 2 pick in a one-QB draft class, and they’ve been starving for stable quarterback play. They might be the most desperate team, and therefore the most willing to pay Jones a boatload.
Pittsburgh Steelers
The Pittsburgh Steelers have been lacking in offensive firepower since the Killer Bs days of Ben Roethlisberger, Le’Veon Bell, and Antonio Brown. None of those three are walking in the door to fix things any time soon, but the Steelers rank in the top ten in cap space this offseason and have an offensive-minded head coach now in Mike McCarthy.
If Pittsburgh wants to make a serious push out of mediocrity, it’ll need to invest in its offense. That starts with fixing the quarterback position.
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At 28 years old, there’s still a good chance Jones could be a long-term franchise QB. That’s more than you can say about many of the other options the Steelers have this year.
Arizona Cardinals
Mike LaFleur is the new head coach of the Arizona Cardinals, and with it should come the end of the Kyler Murray era. The former Pro Bowl quarterback got hurt and was eventually benched midway through the 2025 regular season in favor of Jacoby Brissett, who filled in and did a decent enough job.
Brissett is one of the top backup quarterbacks in the NFL. But if the Cardinals want to string more wins together, they’ll need an upgrade at the most important position in football. Jones would be exactly that; he ranked No. 5 in PFSN’s QB Impact Scoring compared to Brissett’s No. 25 ranking this year.
