According to ESPN’s Chris Mortensen, the Indianapolis Colts are not trading for an available high profile veteran quarterback at this time such as the Chicago Bears Nick Foles, Jacksonville Jaguars Gardner Minshew, or Las Vegas Raiders Marcus Mariota:
The Colts are not trading for Foles, Minshew or Mariota at this time.
Carson Wentz begins rehabbing his foot after two weeks.
He hasn’t been ruled out week 1 but it’s optimistic.
If this relatively safe surgery & rehab gets complicated, then another vet QB will be considered.— Chris Mortensen (@mortreport) August 2, 2021
(For what it’s worth, Foles commented on his strong relationship with Colts head coach Frank Reich on Monday and insinuated interest in joining Indianapolis at quarterback.)
The Colts will have a new starter in the wake of injured starting quarterback Carson Wentz’s foot surgery, which will cost him an estimated 5 to 12 weeks in recovery time, but it’ll be an in-house candidate instead: Jacob Eason.
The young 2nd-year quarterback and former 2020 4th round pick of the Colts out of Washington has played sparingly in practice (before this year’s training camp) but has some physical tools to dream upon.
In fact, Frank Reich committed to Eason this Monday already—at least in the short-term, until Wentz fully recovers. However, in turn, with the stated caveat that Eason still has to earn it on the field.
The Colts did sign backup quarterback Brett Hundley this past weekend—who has 18 career starts with both Green Bay and Arizona collectively, but the 28 year old is seen more as initial veteran insurance (*should Eason crash and burn out of the gates)—as opposed to starting competition for him from the get-go.
Now, should Wentz suffer a setback in his recovery (and Eason simultaneously struggles), perhaps one of those big named readily available veterans becomes a potential trade target down the road for the Colts after all.
However, right now, it looks like Eason is the Colts’ guy, and the team would rather roll on his size, big arm, youth, and potential (given that he already is familiar with the offense and some of his receivers) than another retread veteran journeyman—who’s probably not the answer regardless.
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