FILE - Indianapolis Colts quarterback Daniel Jones, wearing a special pad on his lower left leg, looks to the sidelines during the first half of an NFL football game against the Kansas City Chiefs, Sunday, Nov. 23, 2025 in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Reed Hoffmann, File)
December 03, 2025 - 6:08 AM
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indianapolis Colts quarterback Daniel Jones is getting a little more help from his friends.
Seven years after two teammates created a special pad to protect Jones' fracture collarbone, the same duo has done it again, this time to fit over Jones' injured lower left leg. Jones said Wednesday he first wore it in a loss at Kansas City and then again in Sunday's loss to the Houston Texans.
“Lucky to have smart friends who are really close friends,” Jones said. "It's pretty low profile and fits to my leg pretty well. I didn't really notice it Sunday."
Jones didn't elaborate much on what the extra padding does exactly other than noting Colts doctors and trainers gave him the approval to wear it.
Former Duke center Clark Bulleit and former Duke linebacker Kevin Gehsmann started the company, Protect3D, to produce custom-printed 3D braces and orthotics that help athletes recover from injuries. They created an app that allows the products to be scanned to mobile phones or tablets and are then printed out. The Durham, North Carolina,-based company also says it works with an advisory board of physicians and trainers that are listed on the website.
Bulleit's initial experience in a 3D-printing lab came one semester at Duke when he was able to work closely with the technology before Jones suffered the collarbone injury in 2018. It allowed him to return after just three weeks, and Colts coach Shane Steichen has no qualms with Jones getting some more help from his former teammates.
“I’m an UNLV guy, I’m not a Duke graduate so nothing against my alma mater — I love my alma mater — but Duke there’s like a high (intelligence) level,” he said. ”I guess it was a couple of players and there were like ‘Hey, what if we do this and create this system?’ and they've been doing good. It's pretty impressive."
But Jones didn't need anyone to help him print out this pad.
“My buddy Kevin actually delivered it to me in Kansas City,” Jones said. “He flew (in) and came to the game, I got to see him afterward.”
Jones continues to maintain he still feels healthy enough to play and has no intention of sitting out Sunday's game at Jacksonville (8-4), a matchup featuring the two teams tied for the AFC South lead.
“I've been cleared to play, and I know it's safe,” he said. “I feel good, I think I'm feeling better every week and continue to be able to do more and more, just being mindful of the injury and doing whatever I can to put the team in position to win.”
Jones' performance has declined over the past month with Indy (8-4) losing three of its past four games, including the Colts' first back-to-back losses of the season. As defenses have put increasingly more pressure on Jones, he has looked less mobile, at times, and has been less accurate completing throws than he was in Indy's first eight games.
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