The Colts are about to finish the offseason with some post-draft free agency moves, marking the 10th offseason under Chris Ballard. The decade of Ballard’s management has been a wild rollercoaster ride, albeit not all of it due to Ballard himself. But after this Ballard decade, how does the Colts roster stack up from 2026 compared to 2016, the last year of the Grigson era?
In this position by position series, we dive into who has the edge at every spot of the roster. Up first: Quarterbacks.
2016 QBs: Andrew Luck, Scott Tolzien
2026 QBs: Daniel Jones, Anthony Richardson, Riley Leonard
In 2016,
the Colts had Andrew Luck return following his first major injuries in 2015. Luck had suffered cracked ribs, abdominal muscle tears, a lacerated kidney, and a torn labrum in his throwing shoulder (Grade 1, the least severe grade) during the 2015 season after 4 years of being the most hit and pressured QB in the NFL, and suffered an AC joint injury during a snowboarding accident in the 2016 offseason. The snowboarding injury didn’t worsen his existing labrum injury, but did add yet another injury to rehab from which ultimately was a factor in Luck’s early retirement from the NFL.
The injuries in 2015 caused him to have a career worst season in nearly every metric that year, but 2016 was a bounce back year for Luck afterwards, who passed for 31 TDs to just 13 INTs, 4240 yards, and a then-career high 63.5% completion percentage. He even engineered 4 4th Quarter Comebacks and Game Winning Drives, showing his clutch play had returned. While it didn’t net a Pro Bowl berth or any accolades, Luck was back to being a top 10 QB in the NFL.
QB2 Scott Tolzein played 1 game in 2016 and it was an ugly one. It was a 7-28 Thursday Night Football loss to the Steelers with Tolzein throwing 61.1% Completion Percentage for 205 yards, 1 Touchdown, and 2 Interceptions. He was a less effective passer than Punter Pat McAfee in that game.
The Colts QBs in 2026 also face injury questions heading into this season. Daniel Jones flashed Top 10 (even top 5 in some metrics) play in the first half of the season, but once injuries diminished his mobility his play became more erratic and less efficient, culminating in his Achilles tear ending his season early.
Unfortunately Jones has had a lengthy injury history in his career with the Giants (and had a broken clavicle at Duke). His injury total in the NFL is 11, with a wide range of affected areas. Still, when healthy Jones showed top 5-10 efficiency QB ability in the first half of the 2025 season, showing considerable upside if he can return to that level of play again. Through the first 8 weeks of 2025, Jones produced:
- 173/243 = 71.2% Completion %
- 2,062 Passing Yards
- 13 Passing TDs
- 3 INTs
- 109.5 Passer Rating
- 8.5 Yards Per Attempt
- 9 Sacks
- 30 Carries
- 86 Yards
- 2.9 Yards Per Carry
- 4 TDs
- 2 Fumbles
His top backup Anthony Richardson has also faced a litany of injuries in his career, limiting him to just 15 games (and even less than that snap wise when factoring mid-game injuries). Safe to say the 24 year old out of Florida’s career hasn’t gone as hoped.
While his athletic gifts are great, Richardson still lacks sufficient development in his throwing technique, accuracy, and read progressions/field reading to be the franchise QB the Colts hoped he could become when they drafted him 4th overall. He is now in competition with Riley Leonard for QB2 duties, a role he held in 2025 over the rookie out of Notre Dame.
With Jones and Richardson’s injury histories, there is a good chance we could see both get snaps at QB in 2026, as well as 2025 draft pick Riley Leonard. Leonard also suffered an injury in 2025 when both QBs ahead of him were inactive (thus having the Colts turn to Phillip Rivers out of retirement), but when he got his shot to start against the Texans in Week 18 he showed some promise, even before the Texans pulled their starters in the game.
Advantage: 2016 Colts
Both Colts teams had QBs with injury concerns, but the 2016 Colts still had the generational talent of Andrew Luck with a shorter injury history than either of the Colts top 2 QBs of 2026.
2016 General Manager Ryan Grigson doesn’t deserve much credit for selecting the obvious pick of Luck 1st overall but rather a fair amount of blame for not giving Luck proper Offensive Line support. This was a major contributing factor to the beginning of the injuries that ended Luck’s career prematurely, as Luck was the most pressured and hit QB every year from 2012-2014 and only lost that annual title with Luck’s 2015 injuries.
Even with the hindsight knowledge of Luck only playing 1 more season in his career after 2016 (2018) and knowing Luck returned to form in 2016, the state of the Colts QB room felt more secure and with a higher ceiling in 2016 compared to 2026.
Daniel Jones was excellent to start 2025 in terms of efficiency. But half a season of excellence doesn’t outweigh Luck’s better stats with less support (more in future articles), larger sample size of strong play from Luck, and the greater injury risk current day Daniel Jones has. Jones didn’t look nearly as confident in the pocket, quick with his decision making, turnover and sack avoidant, or as accurate in his prior tape with the New York Giants, so the career half year of Daniel Jones in Indianapolis doesn’t compare to the 2012-2014 resume of Luck.
