Who will start at quarterback for the Colts vs Texans?

1 week ago 2

Is Riley Leonard the next Tom Brady, Matt Hasselbeck or Gardner Minshew? The next Curtis Painter, Sam Ehlinger or Drew Henson?

The Colts will begin to chart the data points Sunday afternoon.

Leonard start Week 18, a source confirmed to IndyStar, giving the rookie sixth-round pick – a round of the draft that birthed perhaps the greatest quarterback of all-time but only 10 with 50 or more starts in their careers – his first career start.

The former Duke and Notre Dame standout, who helped lead the Fighting Irish to last season’s College Football Playoff Championship game (a 34-23 loss to Ohio State), entered the season as the Colts’ third-string quarterback as Daniel Jones and Anthony Richardson Sr. battled for the starting job.

But when Richardson fractured his orbital bone in a freak pre-game accident in Week 6 and Jones tore his right Achilles tendon at Jacksonville in Week 14, Leonard took over. He finished that game as the Colts would trail 21-7 less than three minutes after Leonard went into the game and they’d lose 36-19.

Leonard was 18-of-29 for 145 yards, one rushing touchdown and one interception. He kept a game that had begun to get out of hand from turning into a blowout. He made some plays with his legs and fired some off-schedule throws that worked at times. Leonard arguably should’ve been credited with a passing touchdown erased by a questionable call by the officials.

But within hours of the only snaps he’d seen, Colts head coach Shane Steichen and general manager Chris Ballard had called in reinforcements. Philip Rivers, at that point a 17-year NFL veteran who’d been retired for nearly five years and only days previously had been named a Pro Football Hall of Fame semifinalist, was throwing passes to Colts practice squad wideouts during a workout. Within another 36 hours, Rivers had signed to the Colts practice squad and the meaning was clear.

The Colts arrived in Jacksonville with a 68% chance of making the playoffs according to The Athletic, already on a two-game skid and already having surrendered the lead in the AFC South after an 8-2 start. By midweek, those odds had been slashed to 20%. In order to climb out of that hole, they needed a Hail Mary and a miracle worker, and that wasn’t about to be a rookie with three quarters of NFL football.

“We didn’t bring (Philip) in here to sit on the bench, I’ll say that,” Steichen told reporters days later when asked what gave him the confidence to continue pushing ahead with the 44-year-old quarterback of a team that lost 18-16 in Seattle with just 120 passing yards and 220 yards of total offense over a player like Leonard who perhaps came with a lower ceiling but untapped potential, too.

Ultimately, the Colts would press on with Rivers for three weeks, losing each game – two by eight combined points – to increase the team’s late-season skid to six. Its playoff hopes were finally dashed Saturday evening as the Texans reached 11 wins and clinched the AFC’s last wildcard spot.

The Colts opted to hand a third start to Rivers on Sunday at Lucas Oil Stadium to face the Jaguars. Steichen told reporters earlier in the week that even if Indianapolis no longer held any playoff hopes, handing Leonard the starting job 18 hours before he’d need to take the field after a full week of Rivers taking starting reps in practice “wouldn’t be fair” to the Colts rookie.

Steichen, notably, was also noncommittal who would start in Week 18. Monday, the Colts head coach said he was still in discussions about who would start Sunday – a decision he said the would be reached Tuesday.

“You always go out there, and you try to win ever game you play. We all know that, and whoever is out there, we have faith and trust in that guy to get it done,” Steichen said Monday of the balance of trying to win Sunday and using it as a 60-minute evaluation for the team’s future. “It’s all part of it. There is development process there, but even if there is the development process, you’re still trying to win.

“I’m grateful for (Philip) coming out (of retirement to play), and he’s going to be supportive of whatever it is, whether he plays on Sunday or Riley. He’s going to support Riley if Riley is starting, and we’ll go from there. If Riley is out there starting on Sunday, it’ll be good for him. It’ll be good for his development. We look at all that stuff.”

Rivers has promised he will not be part of anymore storybook comebacks and Richardson’s future with the franchise is unclear given his vision limitations and spotty on-field play during his first two seasons.

With Jones rehabbing, an increased role for Leonard could be a very real possibility for 2026. Jones and the Colts front office – a group with an uncertain future – would have to come to terms on a new deal for the quarterback who inked a one-year contract with Indianapolis last spring.

If Jones is QB1 next September, Sunday becomes a tryout of sorts for Leonard to earn the role of QB2. It’s a title he will have held for 11 games already but due to the Colts’ injury woes.

“He’s a young quarterback, who every rep is vital for,” Colts offensive coordinator Jim Bob Cooter said of Leonard a week ago. “He’s learning. For a young quarterback, it’s a complex game we play here in the NFL. They have a lot to learn, and the best way to learn is by repetition.

“As he gets more and more of those, we’ll look for continued improvement by him. He’s going about his work with really good intensity. He’s really working hard to get better. Those reps are going to certainly help.”

Joel A. Erickson and Nathan Brown cover the Colts all season. Get more coverage on IndyStarTV and with the Colts Insider newsletter.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Riley Leonard, not Philip Rivers, will start Week 18 vs Texans for Colts

Read Entire Article