Less than a quarter into Thursday's preseason matchup between the Indianapolis Colts and Baltimore Ravens, Daniel Jones was presented with the exact reason why he opted against re-signing with the Minnesota Vikings earlier this year.
Jones entered the contest midway through the opening quarter after Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson suffered a dislocated pinky while getting sacked by an unblocked Ravens defender.
The former Vikings signal-caller took over under center after Richardson's early exit and he remained in the game for the rest of the first half. Jones only completed 10 of 21 passes for 144 yards during his time on the field on Thursday, but his performance was secondary to him getting validated for leaving Minnesota this offseason.
Daniel Jones already proven right for his decision to leave the Minnesota Vikings for the Indianapolis Colts
After joining the Vikings in the middle of the 2024 season, Jones hit free agency this past March, and he was free to sign with any team that presented him with an offer.
Minnesota was among the teams that wanted him on its roster for the 2025 campaign, and they were even willing to give him a pretty sizable chunk of change to re-sign. However, because of the higher chance of actually playing in the upcoming season, Jones signed with Indianapolis instead of sticking around to be the No. 2 for the Vikings behind J.J. McCarthy.
After Thursday's game, Richardson's status for Indianapolis's preseason game next week is still uncertain. If he has to miss any practice time or preseason action, one would assume that would increase the odds of Jones opening the regular season as the Colts' starting quarterback.
There's still plenty of time remaining before Indianapolis takes the field for a Week 1 matchup against the Miami Dolphins, but after the Colts' first showing of the 2025 preseason, the former Minnesota quarterback has to feel good about his chance to be a starter in the NFL once again.