The Indianapolis Colts added two veteran quarterbacks who have played in Super Bowls this offseason. But the Colts were still unable to crack the top 10 on a list of the best quarterback situations in the league.
NFL analyst Gary Davenport of Bleacher Report ranked the Colts’ quarterback situation No. 14 in the NFL. Although that’s obviously in the top half of the league, there are still four teams projected to start a quarterback without a playoff win ahead of the Colts on Davenport’s list.
“In many respects, Ryan would appear to be the best of the lot,” Davenport wrote of the quarterbacks who have played for Indianapolis since Andrew Luck’s retirement. “He’s a four-time Pro Bowler who will all but certainly surpass 60,000 career passing yards this year. He was named the league’s Most Valuable Player in 2016 when he led the Atlanta Falcons to a berth in Super Bowl LI.
“However, Ryan is also a 37-year-old who failed to hit 4,000 yards last year and hasn’t posted a winning season as a starter since 2017.”
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Colts Quarterback Situation Ranked No. 14
While the term “quarterback situation” seems to imply not just projected production for 2022 but the long-term stability of the position, Davenport didn’t write that he considered that for his list.
“Which squads are best positioned at the most important position?” Davenport asked. “Which teams are in big trouble? And which ones enter the summer of 2022 mired in the gray area that is the in between?
“Those are the questions this article will attempt to answer by combining past production, talent and future upside, with backups serving as a tiebreak of sorts, to rank all 32 quarterback corps from worst to first.”
With this in mind, Ryan’s age shouldn’t really be a negative. He turned 37 in May, but Ryan hasn’t shown many signs of slowing down. He’s thrown for at least 3,900 yards and 20 touchdowns in 11 straight seasons.
While Ryan hasn’t posted a winning season since 2017, he led the Atlanta Falcons to at least seven wins in seven of the last eight years with the team. That includes winning seven games in three of the last four seasons despite fired executives and coaches, draft pick misses and a poor wide receiver situation in 2021.
Nick Foles as Falcons Backup Quarterback
Davenport considered backup quarterbacks for his rankings, but it’s difficult to tell how much of an impact they made on his list. In the NFL, backup quarterbacks can be irrelevant or extremely important — it all depends on the health of the starter.
But with Nick Foles as Ryan’s backup, the Colts arguably have the best No. 2 quarterback in the NFL.
Foles is 3-9 as a starter over the past three seasons, but he came off the bench with the Philadelphia Eagles in 2017 and led the team to a Super Bowl victory. At 33 years old, he will provide a steady veteran experience and give the Colts chances to win if Ryan misses any games this season.
In his 10-year career, Foles has won 29 games. The only current backup signal callers ranked in a better quarterback situation on Davenport’s list that have won 29 games are Baker Mayfield and Case Keenum.
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