While the Indianapolis Colts are looking to add competition at quarterback, these four high-profile quarterback options probably aren’t in play for the team.
With Anthony Richardson navigating injuries and inconsistent play during his first two NFL seasons, GM Chris Ballard mentioned after the season that adding competition to that room was going to be on the offseason to-do list.
“We knew when we took him it was going to be a roller coaster,” Ballard said of Richardson. “The number one thing we have to figure out and have to work through is he’s got to stay healthy. That, to me, is the biggest question.
“We have to have competition at the position because competition makes you better and because he’s not proven he can stay healthy for 17 games.”
However, how the Colts plan on going about doing that remains an unknown. For the reasons mentioned here, I do think that a free agent addition at quarterback–versus the draft–is the more likely option.
When it comes to who could be available, there are some high-profile names out there, but this roster building path likely doesn’t align with where the Colts are at and where they want to go.
Among the free agent options right now are Russell Wilson, along the Jets announcing that they will move on from Aaron Rodgers, and barring the Vikings’ using the franchise tag on Sam Darnold, he will hit the open market as well.
For starters, with each of these options, there is no competition for Richardson–he would immediately be the backup. In that scenario, any sort of growth that the Colts are hoping to capture through competition is eliminated.
If Richardson were in a true competition and ended up getting beaten out for the starting job, I do believe the Colts would go that route and make him the backup. Part a crucial part of this equation is having that process unfold.
In addition to that, there is the salary cap element that comes with each of these quarterbacks. The Colts currently rank a modest 18th in available salary cap space and have a lot of needs to fill. A signing of this magnitude could really limit what the Colts do elsewhere on this roster.
The fourth potential high profile quarterback option for teams this offseason could the LA Rams’ Matthew Stafford–if a team is willing to make a trade.
Along with the reasons just mentioned, which include there being no competition for Richardson and the cap space required to make an addition of this magnitude–which with Stafford, he is reportedly looking to make more than $50 million per season–in this instance the Colts also have to part with premium draft capital as well. This only further reduces their ability to address other needs.
Now, having said all of that, would these quarterbacks make the Colts better? The results would vary but by and large I think you can say improvement would be a part of the equation.
However, acquiring any one of these quarterbacks would be a complete 180 from everything Ballard and the rest of the Colts’ operation has discussed for two years, which is that Richardson needs time to develop.
The issue, of course, is that the development plan that the Colts have had in place for him isn’t working–or at least up to this point it hasn’t. So does that mean that Indianapolis should keep wandering down the same path that they’re on?
Perhaps not, but to truly answer that question, we need to know what the alternative is. And another veteran quarterback addition and one that would be pricey, for a Colts team that isn’t close, as Ballard put it after the season, may not necessarily be the answer either.
With Darnold and Stafford and where they are at in their careers, adding either of those players to the mix would all but end Richardson’s time in Indianapolis and I don’t get the sense that the Colts are at that point yet with him.
In a vacuum does a move like this make sense for the Colts given their quarterback play last year? Sure. But that doesn’t mean it’s going to happen and I think all the reasons mentioned–competition, cost, draft capital, and the organizational plan–are all reasons why.