{"id":253273,"date":"2025-11-05T14:52:56","date_gmt":"2025-11-05T19:52:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=253273"},"modified":"2025-11-05T14:52:56","modified_gmt":"2025-11-05T19:52:56","slug":"colts-daniel-jones-can-realistically-win-nfl-mvp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2025\/11\/05\/colts-daniel-jones-can-realistically-win-nfl-mvp\/","title":{"rendered":"Colts Star Can Realistically Win NFL MVP"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Quarterback Daniel Jones, who&#8217;s in his first year with the Indianapolis Colts, is having a great season. Will he win the NFL\u2019s MVP award?<\/p>\n<p>Jones and the 7-2 Colts are off to a hot start. The team is the top seed in the AFC despite having the same record as the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/patriots\/\" target=\"_self\">New England Patriots<\/a> and the Denver Broncos. Indianapolis holds the tiebreaker over New England and Denver because it has the better in-conference win percentage, with a record of 6-1 in the AFC. The Patriots and Broncos are each 4-2.<\/p>\n<p>Jones made his share of mistakes in the Colts\u2019 recent Week 9 loss. He committed five turnovers (three interceptions and two lost fumbles) as the Colts fell to the Pittsburgh Steelers <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nfl\/recap\/_\/gameId\/401772766\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">27-20<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>While he was far from impressive in that game, Jones can still get back on track and win MVP honors.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_253612\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-253612\" style=\"width: 640px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-253612 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2025\/11\/USATSI_27426524-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2025\/11\/USATSI_27426524-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2025\/11\/USATSI_27426524-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2025\/11\/USATSI_27426524-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2025\/11\/USATSI_27426524-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2025\/11\/USATSI_27426524-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2025\/11\/USATSI_27426524-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2025\/11\/USATSI_27426524-1200x800.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-253612\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Oct 26, 2025; Indianapolis, Indiana, USA; Indianapolis Colts running back Jonathan Taylor (28) rushes for a touchdown as Tennessee Titans safety Amani Hooker (37) defends during the third quarter at Lucas Oil Stadium.\u00a0<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2>The Colts\u2019 Daniel Jones Can Realistically Win NFL MVP This Season<\/h2>\n<h3>From a Bust to a Star Overnight<\/h3>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/giants\/\" target=\"_self\">New York Giants<\/a> selected Daniel Jones with the sixth overall pick in the 2019 NFL Draft. When you&#8217;re drafted that high, you&#8217;re expected to become a team\u2019s franchise quarterback. Yet, that never quite came to fruition.<\/p>\n<p data-_get-element-size=\"{&quot;w&quot;:310,&quot;h&quot;:196}\">Jones did have a good season, though, in 2022. That year, he threw for 3,2015 yards and 15 touchdowns. He also rushed for 708 yards and seven scores. More importantly, Jones powered the Giants to the postseason. He even helped the team win a playoff game against the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/vikings\/\" target=\"_self\">Minnesota Vikings<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p data-_get-element-size=\"{&quot;w&quot;:310,&quot;h&quot;:224}\">Jones\u2019 performance in 2022 landed him a massive <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nfl.com\/news\/giants-qb-daniel-jones-agree-to-four-year-160-million-contract\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">$160 million<\/a> contract extension. Unfortunately, his career went downhill after that. Last season, the Giants benched him and subsequently released him. He then signed with the Vikings, although he never played a game for them as he backed up Sam Darnold.<\/p>\n<p>The Colts signed Jones this past offseason. He was brought in to compete with <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2025\/10\/07\/analyst-writes-about-the-colts-trading-anthony-richardson-to-the-raiders\/\" target=\"_self\">Anthony Richardson<\/a> for the starting quarterback job. Jones, of course, wound up winning the training camp battle and becoming QB1.<\/p>\n<p>Indy fans weren&#8217;t exactly thrilled to see Jones win the job. Seeing that he struggled in New York, he was expected to do the same with the Colts. However, he has instantly emerged as a star in Indianapolis. Jones is leading the league in passing yards with 2,404 and is seventh in QBR (70.6).<\/p>\n<h3>Can He Get the Job Done?<\/h3>\n<p>Yes, Daniel Jones can win the MVP award this season. But for that to happen, he must avoid being the turnover machine that he was against the Steelers. He needs to play like he did during the first eight games of the season when he committed only a total of three turnovers.<\/p>\n<p>Following his poor performance during the Steelers game, Jones probably took a step back in the MVP race. But perhaps he\u2019ll have a bounce-back game against the 3-5 Atlanta Falcons in Week 10.<\/p>\n<p>The top MVP candidates right now are guys like <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2025\/11\/01\/fantasy-football-top-plays-week-9\/\" target=\"_self\">Josh Allen<\/a>, who won it last season, Patrick Mahomes, and Drake Maye. Jones\u2019 Colts teammate Jonathan Taylor is also in the mix. Yet, it&#8217;s unlikely that he&#8217;ll win it, seeing that a non-quarterback hasn&#8217;t received the award since 2012.<\/p>\n<p>With the recent <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2025\/11\/04\/report-jets-trade-sauce-gardner-to-afc-contender-colts\/\" target=\"_self\">acquisition<\/a> of cornerback Ahmad \u201cSauce\u201d Gardner, the Colts are a legitimate Super Bowl contender. If Jones can get back to where he was earlier in the season and help Indy finish with the league\u2019s best record, an MVP award is certainly possible.<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo: Barry Reeger-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Once considered a bust, Indianapolis Colts quarterback Daniel Jones has a shot to win the NFL MVP this season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4890,"featured_media":253615,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6431,12],"tags":[6237],"class_list":["post-253273","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl-teams","category-colts","tag-jonathan-taylor"],"modified_by":"Will Koshover, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253273","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4890"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=253273"}],"version-history":[{"count":59,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253273\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":253616,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253273\/revisions\/253616"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/253615"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=253273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=253273"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=253273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}