The Indianapolis Colts are dealing with some significant injuries ahead of the playoffs. Sauce Gardner is banged up with a calf strain and Daniel Jones is dealing with a fibula injury. Indy's star quarterback is receiving some help from an unlikely source while he battles through his injury.
Colts QB Daniel Jones has a custom 3D-printed pad for his leg, courtesy of his former Duke teammates. They first helped Jones out with a custom pad designed to protect his fractured collarbone back in 2018.
“I'm lucky to have smart friends. Two classmates of mine, teammates at Duke… They were starting up that business during my last year at Duke. I broke my collarbone at that time, so it kind of worked out timing wise,” Jones said on Wednesday, per The Athletic's James Boyd. “Since then they've built a pretty good business 3D printing those pads and devices.”
Jones has worn the 3D-printed pad over the past two games and approves of it so far.
“It was pretty quick,” Jones said when asked about the turnaround time to receive the device. “They have an app and you can scan it on a phone and [then] print the pad.”
Jones added that his friend printed out the pad and delivered it to him when the Colts played the Chiefs in Kansas City back in November.
Daniel Jones' fibula injury has NFL insiders worried about Colts' season
Could Jones' injury torpedo the Colts' season?
ESPN's Jeremy Fowler and Dan Graziano expressed concern about Jones' fibula injury during a recent article.
“We mentioned Jones earlier, and he's trying to play through a fibula injury,” Fowler wrote. “But he's clearly not 100 percent, and coaches I've talked to who have watched the Colts closely say his mobility appears compromised.”
Apparently the Texans noticed Jones' lack of mobility during Sunday's game.
“I spoke with some folks in Houston after the Texans-Colts game Sunday and they said they felt Jones really couldn't move at all,” Graziano added. “He was able to hit some shots downfield when the pocket held up, but the mobility part of his game is missing, which makes the offense seem more limited.”
Hopefully Jones can manage his injury well enough to get the Colts into the playoffs.
Next up for the Colts is a huge Week 14 matchup against the Jaguars.
