The Indianapolis Colts are caught in a very uncomfortable in-between position on Carson Wentz. The team's starting quarterback could be out for as little as five weeks, but he could miss as many as 12, per reports from Monday morning. With Wentz opting for surgery, the team is surely hoping the signal-caller can miss no more than one or two games to start the NFL season, but if he has to miss anything more than that, the prospects for the season are severely endangered.
Getting a replacement for Carson Wentz would seem to be in order, and yes, there is time for the Colts to change their minds on this particular point. However, according to reportage from ESPN's Chris Mortensen on Monday afternoon, the team isn't currently inclined to swing a deal for a new quarterback:
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
You can put the pieces together and quickly figure out why those three quarterbacks would be natural trade targets for the Colts: They all play on teams which are expected to start other quarterbacks in Week 1: The Chicago Bears will probably start Justin Fields. The Jacksonville Jaguars will start Trevor Lawrence. The Las Vegas Raiders will start Derek Carr. This leaves Nick Foles as a backup in Chicago, Gardner Minshew as a backup in Jacksonville, and Marcus Mariota as a backup in Vegas.
If the Colts aren't interested in those three quarterbacks, does that mean they aren't interested in any other quarterback at all, or does it mean they aren't interested in those three specific quarterbacks? Mortensen's reportage points to the answer: They want to wait it out and see if Wentz can recover in five weeks, which would be in time for Week 1 against the Seattle Seahawks.
The obvious risk here is that if Wentz's rehab following surgery doesn't go smoothly, the Colts might wind up signing a replacement at the end of August or the start of September, which would deprive head coach Frank Reich of the ability to work with his new (potential) quarterback and enable his new field general to establish a strong rapport with his backs, receivers, and his offensive line.
The Colts feel confident this surgery and rehab will work out. We will soon see if that confidence was well-founded.
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