Daniel Jones signing proves Colts aren't interested in true quarterback competition

The Indianapolis Colts signed another quarterback on Tuesday, after Daniel Jones agreed to a one-year, $14 million contract, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter.

The Colts have spent most of the offseason stating that their plan is to hold an open quarterback competition between whoever they signed, and incumbent starter Anthony Richardson next season.

"It's got to be the right guy to create real competition," Colts general manager Chris Ballard said at the NFL Draft Combine. "We want to create real competition. I think it's good for the team. I think it's good for Anthony. We drafted Anthony high knowing it was going to take some time and we knew there's going to be some hiccups along the way. I know we all want a finished product right now. I do. You do. Fans do. We all do. But I think as he continues to progress in his young career, us adding competition, I think, will help up everybody's game."

But by making Jones their quarterback of choice, the Colts are proving that they weren't really interested in having a competition between Richardson and a veteran at all.

Richardson, who will turn 23 next season, remains one of the youngest quarterbacks in the NFL. He is incredibly talented, gifted with incredible athleticism and an absolute howitzer of an arm. With that youth comes inexperience; he started just one season at Florida, and ran a strange, slightly stilted offense. Since coming to the NFL, Richardson has yet to start a full season's worth of games in two years, due to injuries and inconsistent performance. He is an unknown quantity still, and the only way to truly figure out what he's going to be is to give him reps.

On the other hand, Jones is very much a known quantity, and that quantity is "bad at football." The 27-year-old was the bane of Giants fans' existence for the better part of five seasons in New York, and was so bad last year that they released him outright 10 games into the season.

If the Colts were looking for a real, genuine quarterback competition, there are plenty of options out there. Russell Wilson is on the market. Gardner Minshew could make a second appearance in Indianapolis. Jameis Winston is an option. Kirk Cousins could still end up on the market.

Any of these guys would have been a better option to have an actual competition with Richardson than Jones. We know what Jones is at this stage: a bottom-of-the-league caliber starting quarterback with a nasty propensity for throwing picks, and a knack for driving fans around the bend. Is that really the kind of quarterback you want having any chance whatsoever of taking the starting job in camp? Absolutely not.

Who's going to be excited if Jones beats out Richardson for the starting job? No one. Richardson needs reps, and the Colts know it. Signing a guy who probably tops out as a mid-level backup isn't the worst plan in the world.

So why act like it's a competition? Why pretend that you're doing anything other than signing a backup quarterback who can maybe step in and not be a dumpster fire for a game or two, but who has no business being your starter? Why risk undermining Richardson's confidence by saying that he's going to have a legit competition with Jones, who was by basically every metric the worst starting quarterback in the NFL last year?

And those questions beget another big one that Indianapolis is likely going to have to answer in the coming year:

Is Chris Ballard actually good at his job? If the way he's handled the Richardson situation is any indication, the answer seems to be "definitely not."

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