Catching up with Danny Dimes

Daniel Jones on the comeback trail

Remember Patrick Mannelly?

He was a good offensive lineman for Duke in the 1990s. He also was a long snapper in an era before that role had become specialized.

Chicago drafted him in 1998.

He didn’t make the Bears roster as a lineman. But he did as a long snapper, 16 years worth. Mannelly was good. He had 2,282 snaps in the NFL without an error. I’m not sure anyone was ever better at their job than he was at his.

The Patrick Mannelly Award goes to college football’s best snapper.

But there’s something else. For more than a few of those years he was the only Duke alum in the NFL. Over 2,000 players typically suit up in an NFL season and an ACC team couldn’t find more than a player or two each season.

That’s how all those Carl Franks and Ted Roof teams posted winless or one-win seasons.

Then David Cutcliffe came in and he and his staff started recruiting and developing next-level talent. Soon players like Laken Tomlinson, Jamison Crowder, Matt Skura, Ross Cockrell and Noah Gray were populating NFL rosters.

But there was one gap, a curious one. Cutcliffe came to Duke with the reputation as a quarterback whisperer, a reputation largely gained from his work the brothers Manning.

And he certainly had very good quarterbacks at Duke, from Thad Lewis (inherited from Roof), Sean Renfree, Anthony Boone, Brandon Connette, Thomas Sirk.

But none of them had any sustained NFL success. Lewis threw 189 passes in portions of two seasons. Renfree barely took off his helmet, two games, seven passes for Atlanta.

Then came Daniel Jones. You know the story. An under-the-radar two-star recruit headed for obscurity. But Cut heard some good things, took a look, liked what he saw.

Jones redshirted as a freshman, backing up Sirk. That was 2015. Sirk tore an Achilles and Jones took over. I wonder how long it would have taken Jones to move ahead of a healthy Sirk in 2016.

Jones started three seasons for Duke, completing 60% of his passes, 52 touchdowns and 29 interceptions, 8,201 passing yards. He added 17 rushing touchdowns and led Duke to two bowl victories.

Interestingly, Jones never made an All-ACC team. In fact, Lewis (second team 2009) is Cut’s only All-ACC quarterback.

Who kept Jones off the All-ACC teams? Lamar Jackson, Deshaun Watson and Mitch Trubisky in 2016, Jackson, John Wolford and Ryan Finley in 2017 and Finley, Trevor Lawrence and Eric Dungey in 2018.

Some big names there. Some not-so-big. But not even an honorable mention for Jones.

NFL scouts knew better. Jones checked all the boxes, big, strong arm, smart, excellent runner.

But not many had him at number six. The New York Giants knew Eli Manning’s career was running down and they didn’t want to take a chance that Jones would be gone.

It was so promising. The Giants went 9-7-1 in 2022 and won a playoff game, 31-24 at Minnesota. Jones passed for over 3,000 yards, rushed for 708 and accounted for 22 touchdowns, that season, with only five interceptions. In that Minnesota win, Jones became the first player in NFL history with 300+ passing yards, 70+ rushing yards and at least two TD passes in a playoff game.

Then it all went sour. No question Jones had some ball-security issues. No question the Giants offensive line resembled a sieve, as Jones spent most of his time fleeing a pass rush while hoping someone, anyone wearing a Giant uniform would get open. The fans turned on him, the notoriously ruthless New York media turned on him.

Jones and the Giants reached the irreconcilable differences stage of their relationship last year. Jones was benched, released at his request and at 27 years of age it looked like his NFL career might be over, at least his days as a starter. The smart money was on Jones spending the rest of the NFL career as a backup, mentoring the latest hot, young thing.

He gambled on himself, signing a one-year-show me contract with Indianapolis. He was the underdog against Anthony Richardson, the fourth pick of the 2023 draft but won the starting job in training camp.

“Daniel has been through some things and has handled them well,” GM Chris Ballard said at the time. “Daniel’s done a lot of good things. Ya’ll saw the fact that he did some good things. He’s a good player, he’s the ultimate professional and he’s a consistent player day in and day out.”

“I think there’s a lot of things here to be excited about,” Jones added. “I’m certainly happy I made the decision I did.”

So are the Colts. They opened the regular season with Jones under center, their eighth different opening-day starter in nine years. Jones led them to a 33-8 demolition of the Dolphins. They followed with a weird 29-28 win over Denver in week two.

Why “weird?” Well, the Colts missed a 60-yard field goal as time expired. But the Colts were assessed a 15-yard penalty and Spencer Shrader wasn’t going to miss from 45.

Jones passed for 316 yards against a Broncos defense widely considered one of the league’s best.

The Tennessee Titans were next, 41-20.

Through three games, Jones is off to a historically good start.

If that sounds like hyperbole, well the Colts became the first team in NFL history to score on each of their first 10 possessions. They’re the first team in NFL history to punt only once through their first three games. The Colts have scored 103 points through their first three games, something Peyton Manning never did in Indianapolis.

Jones has completed 71.6% of his passes for 816 yards, three touchdown passes,zero interceptions. He’s run for three touchdowns, with no fumbles. He’s third in the NFL in passing yards, third in yards per attempt, fifth in completion percentage. Jones leads the league in quarterback rating.

He’s only been sacked twice. It’s almost like having an offensive line that can pass block is a good thing.

Colts coach Shane Steichen was unstinting in his praise after the Titans win.

“You’ve got a guy that’s the signal-caller back there that studies his tail off, looks at tape all day every day, grinding, looking at different things, knowing the checks, understanding what we’re trying to get done offensively, getting us in and out of the right plays.

“That stuff pays huge dividends in this league, because there’s a lot going on. Obviously, this is one of the toughest positions in all of sports to play, and he’s doing it right now as good as it gets”

As an aside that’s not really an aside, his old NFL team is 0-3 with 36-year-old, not-as-good-as-he-used-to-be-Russell Wilson running for his life, with a quarterback rating so low it’s microscopic. Jaxson Dart to the wolves any day now.

The Colts share the AFC South with Jacksonville, the Texans and the Titans. This is a winnable division. It’s early and things could change. Fingers crossed. But the NFL does have a Comeback Player of the Year Award and Jones might be the early front-runner.

Every NFL fan needs a secondary favorite team. Colts anyone?

Not too shabby for a guy on the scrap heap a few months ago.