{"id":739635,"date":"2026-02-09T06:36:22","date_gmt":"2026-02-09T06:36:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/739635\/"},"modified":"2026-02-09T06:36:22","modified_gmt":"2026-02-09T06:36:22","slug":"colts-daniel-jones-contract-talks-starting-soon-franchise-tag-an-option","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/739635\/","title":{"rendered":"Colts, Daniel Jones contract talks starting ‘soon;’ franchise tag an option"},"content":{"rendered":"

Feb. 8, 2026, 2:23 p.m. ET<\/p>\n

The Indianapolis Colts<\/a> and free agent quarterback will begin contract talks soon, according to Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cMy understanding is the Colts<\/a> plan to open talks soon with Daniel Jones on a multi-year deal to keep him in Indianapolis,\u201d Pelissero reported on Sunday.<\/p>\n

This report does not come as a surprise. Chris Ballard and Shane Steichen have made it quite clear that they want Jones back, and Jones has also said he would like to return.<\/p>\n

“I am told Jones wants to be in Indianapolis,” Pelissero added. “The Colts want to work out a deal. If they can’t, the franchise tag would be an option, but either way, the plan is Jones stays in Indy.”<\/p>\n

Although both sides want to work out a new deal, determining the length of the deal and the amount could be a hurdle with Jones coming off a major injury.<\/p>\n

Expert NFL picks: Exclusive betting insights only at USA TODAY.<\/a><\/p>\n

With that said, Ballard has already stated that he is\u00a0“confident”<\/a>\u00a0in Jones’ ability to recover from the Achilles injury and bounce back.<\/p>\n

According to Over the Cap<\/a>, the franchise tag for the quarterback this season is projected to be $47.32 million. Since this is effectively a one-year deal, that entire amount would count towards the 2026 salary cap.<\/p>\n

It’s possible that the franchise tag is utilized to essentially extend the negotiating window. Rather than needing a long-term deal done by the start of free agency on March 9th, the franchise tag would allow the two sides to continue those conversations without Jones hitting the open market.<\/p>\n

Then, when a new deal is reached, Jones’ cap hit for the 2026 season would be much more manageable, and he would be under contract beyond just this season as well.<\/p>\n

We saw the Colts do this with Michael Pittman during the 2024 offseason.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Feb. 8, 2026, 2:23 p.m. ET The Indianapolis Colts and free agent quarterback will begin contract talks soon,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":739636,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2059],"tags":[95878,2005,7,2004,392,2381,6,49915,95900,95882,96015,95903,96013,95895,95899,95883,95881],"class_list":{"0":"post-739635","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-indianapolis-colts","8":"tag-accessfree","9":"tag-colts","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-indianapolis","12":"tag-indianapolis-colts","13":"tag-indianapoliscolts","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-sstssportsnflcolts","16":"tag-sstsncolts","17":"tag-tagamerican-football","18":"tag-tagdaniel-jones","19":"tag-tagindianapolis-colts","20":"tag-tagmichael-pittman-jr","21":"tag-tagnfl-hub","22":"tag-tagoverall-neutral","23":"tag-tagsports-news","24":"tag-typestory"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116039292387041714","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/739635","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=739635"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/739635\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/739636"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=739635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=739635"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=739635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}