Colts still have QB questions: Jacoby Brissett’s future, the draft and beyond

Chris Ballard couldn’t watch his team’s passing game sputter down the stretch and not be forthcoming about what he had seen.

Ballard isn’t prone to hyperbole – good or bad – but the Colts general manager is certainly a straight shooter. So, after a season in which Indianapolis finished 30th in passing yards and 28th in yards per attempt, Ballard did not attempt to sugarcoat the situation.

“Our passing game has to improve,” Ballard said in early January. “Unequivocally, that has to get better. We have to be able to throw the football to win in this league. I think we all know that. I think the jury is still out.”

The Colts never made any pretenses. They went to great lengths to avoid disparaging 2019 starter Jacoby Brissett. He stood ready to step in when Andrew Luck abruptly retired and gave his team a chance to compete. But Ballard and coach Frank Reich also were careful to never suggest that Brissett’s performance was good enough.

Clearly, in the Colts’ assessment, it was not. We know this based on their decision this week to negotiate a one-year contract with former Chargers great Philip Rivers, a deal that will pay Rivers some $25 million.

Maybe the Colts can exhale a bit knowing they have accomplished their first order of business on the quarterback front. But this process is only now getting underway. If we were to view this effort to solve the Colts’ quarterback issue as we would a game, signing Rivers would be the equivalent of taking a two-touchdown lead in the first quarter, but feeling insecure because your defense stinks and the other team possesses a potent offense.

There will be further dominoes to fall. The Colts likely aren’t done making news at quarterback. So, let’s size up the decisions that remain.

Next steps with Brissett

The Colts aren’t paying Rivers $25 million to come in and compete with Brissett. Whether the Colts publicly anoint Rivers the starter during the offseason or not, there isn’t any mystery to how this is going to play out.

Given this reality, what happens with Brissett? Team sources have indicated the Colts are not opposed to keeping Brissett on the roster. It almost appears to be their intent at the moment.

But you don’t need a PhD in roster management to know that trading Brissett has to be on the table. The Colts owe Brissett a guaranteed $7 million bonus on Sunday. The money is his whether he gets traded, cut or otherwise. If the Colts eat that money, a trade becomes a viable solution. Brissett would be owed $8 million total in base salary and bonuses at that point, a sum that his new team would be required to pay.

One front-office source from another team described that amount as “very reasonable” given what Brissett provides.

In the right situation, such a contract would be workable for a team looking for quarterback competition. But as a backup, that salary would be on the very high end. It wouldn’t be unprecedented, however. Teddy Bridgewater, now headed to Carolina, played on a one-year, fully guaranteed contract in New Orleans last season worth $7.25 million. That made him the league’s highest-paid backup.

The ideal trade partner for Brissett would be a team with an unstable quarterback situation. You should be thinking about teams with circumstances similar to those of the Raiders before agreeing to terms this week with Marcus Mariota, who could apply pressure to starter Derek Carr if the latter falters. But there are only a handful of teams in that predicament.

Meanwhile, there is a surplus of available quarterbacks. The many quarterback machinations around the league this week have left Joe Flacco and Jameis Winston as free agents while Andy Dalton and Cam Newton are available for trade.

In this game of musical chairs, there might not be a seat for Brissett.

The Colts can accommodate both Rivers’ and Brissett’s salaries on the roster this season because of their ample salary-cap space. Truth is, they might have to – whether they wish to or not.

Looking to the draft

Signing Rivers in no way addresses the matter of the Colts’ long-term quarterback problem. The Colts will undoubtedly consider the position in the upcoming draft.

But they have a challenge on their hands: They just dealt their first-round pick to the 49ers for defensive tackle DeForest Buckner, taking them out of the running for one of the draft’s top quarterbacks (barring a dramatic trade up).

At the same time, the Colts must confront and address the position for the long term. Indy has just one quarterback under contract for 2021. His name is Brian Hoyer.

But if you’ve been reading our recent stories, picking a quarterback outside the first round is something the Colts have long been considering. It was none other than owner Jim Irsay himself who let that slip during a recent news conference.

“We could draft someone,” Irsay said last month. “That’s a possibility. It doesn’t have to be in the first round. There’s a lot of good players out there.”

To be sure, we’re told the Colts have been studying all the quarterbacks in this draft and will be equipped to decide on them.

There are intriguing options beyond the first round. Some of those include Jacob Eason of Washington, an underclassman who threw 23 touchdowns for the Huskies last season. Jake Fromm of Georgia has some appeal after throwing 78 touchdowns in three seasons with the Bulldogs. Jalen Hurts fits the Colts’ prerequisites of toughness and leadership ability after finding success at Alabama and then Oklahoma.

Each is expected to be chosen in the early rounds but perhaps not in the first. The Colts, with a pair of second-round choices – picks 34 and 44 – have options. And given their future stable of quarterbacks, or the lack thereof, they need to consider those options.

Rest of the QB unit

When the Rivers deal becomes official, the Colts will have four quarterbacks on their roster: Rivers, Brissett, Hoyer and Chad Kelly.

That’s a crowded meeting room – and we haven’t even accounted for a possible draft pick. Not everyone can stay.

This is an area where some other dominoes will fall in the coming months. Brissett’s ultimate fate will have the biggest impact on what happens elsewhere. If he stays, that will have a negative impact on Hoyer. The veteran backup struggled in the two games in which he replaced the injured Brissett last season, throwing four interceptions in those contests (including three picks in an inexplicable loss to the Dolphins). Hoyer appears to be vulnerable here. Don’t discount the possibility of retirement, either, which is a potential outcome.

Let’s say the Colts manage to deal Brissett. That would require them to assess the rest of the unit. The question then would be whether the Colts deem Hoyer a sufficient backup or whether Kelly is a viable option. The Colts have a favorable view of Kelly and have a desire to see whether he can be further developed.

Of course, these scenarios do not take into account the percolating idea that the Colts could draft a quarterback. That would further complicate things in the crowded room.

As stated earlier, we’re in the first quarter of this ball game. The outcome is hardly decided. Stay tuned, because the next three quarters are sure to include some pivotal moments.

(Photo of Brissett: Douglas DeFelice / USA Today Sports)