Daniel Jones reminds Colts GM of 'ultimate professional' Alex Smith when he was with Chiefs

Daniel Jones has been reborn with the Indianapolis Colts. After being released from the New York Giants and briefly leaning under Kevin O'Connell with the Minnesota Vikings, Jones is again a starting NFL quarterback, having beaten out Anthony Richardson in Indy. 

Many question if Jones actually has a higher ceiling than the uber-athletic Richardson, but what fans may be missing is that the Colts' floor is likely higher with Jones at quarterback. He has started almost 70 NFL games, won a playoff game and did enough to earn a four-year, $160 million extension from the Giants. 

Jones' NFL story is still being written, and he actually reminds Colts general manager Chris Ballard of another quarterback that found success in his second act.

"At the end of the day, Daniel won the job. Does that mean we're down on Anthony? No," Ballard said, via the Colts' official website. "But I don't want to dismiss that Daniel's had a good run here. Reminds me a lot of Alex Smith that we had in Kansas City that I thought was the ultimate professional day in and day out, the team knew exactly what they were getting. And I feel that's kind of the same thing with Daniel."

Smith, who was selected No. 1 overall in the 2005 NFL Draft, eventually took the lowly 2-14 San Francisco 49ers to 13-3, and led them to their first NFC Championship appearance since 1997. However, Colin Kaepernick stole the starting job in 2012 after Smith was sidelined due to a concussion, leading to him being traded to the Kansas City Chiefs that following offseason. 

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Ballard joined the Chiefs front office the same offseason that Smith landed in Kansas City. The new quarterback immediately elevated the Chiefs, as Kansas City went from 2-14 to 11-5 in Smith's first season, which was also Andy Reid's first season. The Chiefs ended up winning the AFC West twice and registering double-digit victories four times in Smith's five seasons as starter. 

While Smith may be remembered by many as "the quarterback before Patrick Mahomes," he helped the Chiefs become a winning franchise. He went 50-26 as the starter in Kansas City after being jettisoned from San Francisco, which is the kind of production the Colts would love to get from Jones.