Colts will come to Daniel Jones realization Giants fans learned the hard way

The Indianapolis Colts finally put an end to one of the sadder QB competitions in recent NFL history on Tuesday morning, and the conclusion was fittingly bleak. Rather than roll the dice one more time on Anthony Richardson, Shane Steichen and Co. have instead decided to give Daniel Jones the nod for Week 1.

In a vacuum, you can understand why Indianapolis reached this conclusion. Richardson appears no closer to having the light bulb come on for him at the NFL level, getting injured in the team's preseason opener a couple of weeks ago and then alternating between the maddening and the miraculous this past weekend against the Green Bay Packers. Steichen (and GM Chris Ballard) needs to start winning in a hurry to save his job, and Jones almost certainly gives the Colts the best chance to do that in the near future.

But successful franchises don't make these sorts of decisions in a vacuum, nor do they fixate on only the near future. While Jones may look like the steadier hand right now, it's only because we know exactly who he is as a starting quarterback: Somebody who's not good enough to lead a franchise. Indy may think he gives them the best chance to be competitive right now, but this road will just lead back to the same depressing destination.

It's only a matter of time before the Colts sour on the Daniel Jones Experience

It's possible that at this point Jones is a little bit underrated; he's not, as certain fans would probably tell you, the worst QB in the league. In fact, he's very far from it, and just about every team in the NFL would kill to have him on board as its backup.

But that doesn't mean that he deserves another chance to start. He is who he is as a player by now, one with some considerable physical gifts but not enough awareness, finesse or accuracy to make it all come together. Sure, he's good enough to help you avoid the bottom falling out entirely. If you want to make some actual noise, though, you need to look elsewhere — after several years at the helm with the New York Giants, we can safely say he's not that guy.

And really, shouldn't that be what Indianapolis is searching for? Steichen and Ballard's job security aside, the Colts need to be thinking about how they might get back to meaningful contention in a crowded AFC, not how they can best hover around .500. There's a very good chance that Richardson simply never develops into the player we thought he might become out of Florida; but we know that Jones never will, and really, what's to be gained by chaining yourself to a player with a reasonable floor but a non-existent ceiling?