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Andrew Luck shocked the entire football world this past Saturday when he suddenly announced his retirement, just two weeks before the Indianapolis Colts were going to play their season opener.
And this wasn't just any season for the Colts, either. They were expected by just about everyone to be Super Bowl contenders. But now that Luck has decided to hang up his cleats, things have obviously changed.
Remember: the last time Luck didn't play for a whole season, Indianapolis went just 4-12 in 2017, so take Luck off of that team, and it probably isn't a playoff squad.
To be fair, this Colts club is a bit more talented overall than the 2017 iteration, but it's hard to imagine Indy making the postseason without Luck under center.
That brings us to Jacoby Brissett, who will be assuming the role of starting quarterback.
Of course, this isn't Brissett's first rodeo, as he started at signal-caller for Indianapolis during that 2017 campaign and threw for 3,098 yards, 13 touchdowns, and seven interceptions while completing 58.8 percent of his passes and posting a passer rating of 81.7.
Here's what we know about Brissett: he's big, at 6-foot-4 and around 240 pounds. He also has a rocket arm, and while he isn't Lamar Jackson, he moves around fairly well.
He was originally drafted by the New England Patriots in the third round back in 2016, which should tell you quite a bit what NFL scouts thought (and probably still think) about his potential.
That's the silver lining here: it's not like the Colts are going to some bum who has never played a game in his NFL career. Brissett has some experience, and he certainly has talent.
But just what can we expect from Brissett in 2019?
Well, we have to keep in mind that Brissett was literally just informed he was being named the starter this past weekend, so it's not like he has had a whole lot of time to mentally prepare for this moment. So that is a factor.
On that same token, though, Luck missed just about all of training camp with calf and ankle injuries, so Brissett was getting some time to build some camaraderie with his teammates, camaraderie that he already started forming in 2017.
Who knows? Brissett may end up surprising all of us. It's not a question of whether or not the kid has talent; it's whether or not he is ready to take the reins as a full-time starter and franchise quarterback moving forward.
So, really, this is just a matter of Brissett—and his teammates—being ready for the moment.
It's not going to be easy for the Colts to go from a trendy Super Bowl pick to a team trying to find its way with a brand new signal-caller, especially considering that this all happened so suddenly.
But Brissett does have a year of full-time experience under his belt, and Indianapolis seems genuinely going into 2019 with him as its leader.
Again, our expectations for Jacoby Brissett should be tempered, as he is still largely unproven, and this will be a pretty swift adjustment period, but there is still some hope for the Colts. Not just for 2019, but for the future.
