No one saw this coming.
Dak Prescott has largely returned to low-MVP-level form. Kyler Murray is back to early-season form. Hell, even Russell Wilson is slinging moon balls like it's 2013 again and reaching career-high numbers for the first team in years.
But Daniel Jones!? The magic fortune-telling machine from Big could not have predicted that the Colts, possibly the worst-ranked team in the NFL going into 2025, would be 2-0, let alone be led by Daniel ****in' Jones. He's the big winner of the early season by far.
But there are never winners without losers on the flip side. And these are the three biggest that were hit by the rise of Danny Dimes.
1. Anthony Richardson
Can you believe that it almost took the entire preseason for Shane Steichen to decide who would start under center? Call the percentages between Richardson's athletic ability, Jones' awful resume with the Giants, and the power of the sunk cost fallacy however you want to, but they combined for a summer football saga nobody asked for, nor wanted. And even after an injury history list the length of a CVS receipt and two non-injury-related benchings, The Athletic's Colts writer James Boyd still held out hope for Richardson after Steichen's decision was made.
But as of Week 2, not only does Richardson's chances ever playing for the Colts again, bar injury, look like a long shot, but so do the prospects of him going under center for any NFL team. And in retrospect, maybe it should have been more obvious that this would be Daniel Jones' team when he arrived, at least based off of stats. When comparing the first 15 games of both of their careers, there is a distinct difference between Richardson's (50.6 CMP%, 159.4 YPG, 11:13 TD:INT, 67.8 QBR) and Jones' (62 CMP%, 236.5 YPG, 26:15 TD:INT, 85.6 QBR) performances as throwers of the football under near-identical attempts per game. But throw in Jones' connection with rookie TE Tyler Warren, and a statement game against the Broncos' All-World defense headed by DPOY candidate Patrick Surtain II, and you can basically pencil in the end of Richardson's time in Indianapolis.
2. Brian Daboll
Boy, does Brian Daboll look stupid. It feels like forever ago when Giants fans got excited about Jones partnering up with the legendary quarterback whisperer that 'made Josh Allen'. And while Daboll's tenure with Big Blue started off well enough, the way that he and Jones' time ended together was just lowlight after lowlight.
Now I happen to agree with the consensus that Jones and the Giants were not working out. But the way that New York's coaching staff and front office went about to essentially sustain the bleeding was, frankly, embarrassing. And now, under not just a good, but stellar offensive line, Jones is looking like every bit what the Giants were hoping he would become. And if it does turn out that Jones' issues were either solely or largely linked to the horrendous offensive line rather than to the shortcomings of him as a player, then Daboll's hot seat in New York will grow even hotter -- not to mention the pressure that will be put on his latest quarterback whispering project, Jaxson Dart, to deliver.
3. CJ Stroud
Unique among this list, CJ Stroud's mention here isn't entirely, or even mostly, his fault. Nico Collins is his only receiver of note, Houston's offensive line might actually be worse than New York, and their first game of the season came across one of the the only teams that could challenge Green Bay for the title of Best Defense in the NFL. And we're so very serious about the Texans' offensive line: if the team is serious about C.J. Stroud's potential as an all-time, Hall of Fame-bound Texan, then they'd better take the lesson that Cincinnati's front office learned the hard way.
But this is still the AFC South, arguably the weakest conference in the NFL. Even with their issues in protection, the Texans were projected to feature an improved, top-half offense for 2025. Between that and the investment they made into a defense that also boasted consensus top tier potential, Houston was supposed to roll through the conference. And now, they find themselves looking up from the basement through Week 2, Nico Collins is nowhere near getting targeted enough, and the division rival that was supposed to be in the basement is now power ranked as a top twelve team after Week 2. If anyone on the Texans is hurt by this pile of straws, it's C.J. Stroud.