Indianapolis Colts’ Reliance On Quarterback Carousel Has Been A Massive Failure

The Indianapolis Colts may not have officially said it when they benched former NFL MVP Matt Ryan, but they didn’t have to.

They’re in rebuilding mode.

As head coach Frank Reich took to the podium and addressed reporters on Monday following the Colts’ 19-10 loss to the Tennessee Titans, he took everyone by surprise by benching his veteran quarterback. Instead, Indianapolis will not only start second-year quarterback Sam Ehlinger for Week 7, it’ll be for the rest of the season.

The move itself is understandable. Ryan is simply done as a starting quarterback, with his 37-year-old body being unable to drive the ball down the field. Making matters worse is the fact that he can’t seem to take care of the football anymore either, leading the league in interceptions (nine), fumbles (11) and ranking second in sacks (24).

His inability to hold on to the ball has been a major concern over the past two years, having led the league in fumbles since October of 2020 (27).

Financial reasons also play a major role in Ryan’s benching, as Mike Florio of NBC Sports notes.

“Specifically, Ryan has $7.205 million in additional 2023 salary guaranteed for injury, and a 2023 roster bonus of $10 million, which is also guaranteed for injury,” said Florio. “That’s $17.205 million that the Colts would potentially owe Ryan (in addition to the $12 million) if he emerges from the 2022 season with an injury that prevents him from passing a physical by the middle of March.”

While there’s little argument for why the Colts are benching Ryan despite a decent 3-3-1 start, the problem is this — Indianapolis has failed in recent years due to their reliance on a quarterback carousel.

Since Andrew Luck’s retirement in 2019, the Colts will have started six different quarterbacks once Ehlinger takes the field versus the Washington Commanders.

Instead of taking the time in scouting a quarterback and drafting him high, Indianapolis has relied on quick fixes, namely veteran quarterbacks. They had decent success with Philip Rivers at quarterback — he led them to the playoffs — and posted a winning record with Carson Wentz, But Wentz failed to lead the Colts to the postseason.

Lastly, they’re benching Ryan — after giving up a third-round draft pick — after just seven games.

The buck stops here.

Maybe Ehlinger proves to be a viable starting quarterback. Maybe he even leads an Indianapolis squad that came within a win of making it to the playoffs last year to more success than they had with Ryan.

But it’s probably unlikely.

That means assuming Ehlinger doesn’t prove to be the franchise quarterback in the last 10 games of the 2022 season, the Colts will have to look for another quarterback — again.

For an organization that discovered two all-time great quarterbacks with first-round draft picks in Peyton Manning and Andrew Luck, the organization has gone in a completely different direction.

No more quick fixes. No more short-sighted thinking. The time for the Colts to draft a quarterback high and develop him starts in 2023. The 2023 NFL draft is brimming with top-heavy quarterback talent, with prospects such as C.J. Stroud, Bryce Young and Will Levis expected to be the top three quarterbacks taken.

The Colts have won just one playoff game since general manager Chris Ballard took over in 2017. That’s a major decline compared to his predecessors, with former Indianapolis general manager Ryan Grigson winning three games during his five seasons in the role. Meanwhile, Chris Polian led the Colts to a Super Bowl appearance during his three seasons as general manager.

That’s obviously not even mentioning Bill Polian’s massive success, the team’s first general manager when Jim Irsay took over as owner in 1997.

In other words, this is a team that doesn’t rebuild. Outside of Manning’s rookie season in 1998 and his injury-plagued campaign in 2011, Indianapolis has always been a contending team over the past 25 years.

As noted by Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated, Irsay has been more involved with personnel decisions when it comes to the quarterback.

“One other thing not to be ignored—owner Jim Irsay’s involvement in the decision,” said Breer regarding Ryan’s benching. “Reich said that he and GM Chris Ballard met with Irsay on Sunday night to discuss it, and that the switch was made with the intention that Ehlinger remain the team’s starter for the rest of the season should not be ignored.”

The reason why the Colts have gone in a quick-fix direction at quarterback over recent years is due to Irsay’s desire to find his next Manning or Luck.

“Irsay’s been more involved in quarterback decisions over the last year, and those there believe he wants the organization to drive toward a point where they have the long-term solution they had in the past, with both Peyton Manning and (they thought, at least) Andrew Luck,” said Breer. “The hope, going into this year, was that Matt Ryan could hold down the fort for three or four years, like Manning did in Denver, and thus be more than a Band-Aid.”

Needless to say, Irsay’s decision making is a large reason why the Colts find themselves in the mess that they’re currently in.

The Colts gave up important draft capital and are paying Ryan guaranteed money to sit on the bench following a failed seven-game stint. This comes one year after Indianapolis gave up a 2022 conditional first-rounder and 2021 third-rounder for Wentz — only to quickly give up on the 29-year-old after a solid 27-touchdown campaign last season.

That move from Wentz to Ryan is proving to be wrong in hindsight.

Irsay is driving the decision-making and the Colts have paid the price in recent years.

It’s time to stop that trend now and put time into developing an actual franchise quarterback.