Indianapolis Colts rookie QB Anthony Richardson is now expected to miss the rest of the 2023 NFL regular season. The Colts could do something very funny in response to this. It does kind of make sense when you think about it, too. Head coach Shane Steichen appears to have a solid grip on developing dual-threat quarterbacks in the NFL.
He did it with Jalen Hurts and had Anthony Richardson playing some pretty good football. Well, Richardson's shoulder injury looks like something that may keep him out of the rest of the 2023 regular season, which is a huge blow for the Colts. Indy sits at 3-3 through six games and are still very much alive in the AFC South division title race and in the AFC playoff picture.
While the Colts are clearly not a Super Bowl team or a team that can make a deep playoff run, it's clear the team knows how to win games. Gardner Minshew should be handling the QB duties for the rest of the way, but the Colts should bring back and old friend, especially considering he has been the best QB the team has had over the last few years.
Carson Wentz should be an Indianapolis Colt again. It makes so much sense. The team dropped Wentz after one year and decided that Matt Ryan would be their answer. Well, Ryan was a total disaster in Indy and was cut after one season. Ryan's playing career appears to be over. It was a puzzling decision to move off of Wentz after one year, as he had thrown 27 touchdown passes on just seven interceptions. The Colts had the 9th-ranked scoring offense that year, too.
In fact, the offense that Indy runs might be perfect for Wentz, who clearly performed best while partnered with Frank Reich. Reich also happens to have worked with both Nick Sirianni and Shane Steichen in the past. Sirianni is the head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles and Steichen is currenly in Indy in the same role.
When Reich was with the Colts as their HC from 2018-2022, Sirianni was the OC from 2018-2020. When Reich was with the Chargers from 2013-2015 as their QB coach and OC, Steichen was there in 2014-2015 as an offensive quality control coach. All three men have overlapped with each other at some point and share similar offensive philosophies.
Sirianni had Steichen as his OC from 2021-2022. I think signing Carson Wentz would be a bit of an awkward homecoming considering the QB they dropped Wentz for, but it would truly make sense, and might even be a bit funny, too.