What does Carson Wentz injury mean for Sam Ehlinger?

One of the trendy picks this season for a deep postseason run — maybe even a Super Bowl XLI berth? — is the Indianapolis Colts … the team, Texas fans know, chose former UT quarterback Sam Ehlinger in the sixth round of the 2021 NFL Draft.

The Colts have a strong defense, a powerful (when healthy) offensive line and an emerging running game with fast-rising Jonathan Taylor toting the ball. Over the offseason, the team traded for former Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz to lead the offense and lift the team into title contention.

Wentz was made available by the Eagles in large part because of questions about his durability. He has the tools — size, intelligence, arm strength, mobility, the proverbial “football IQ — to be everything a team can want in a franchise quarterback. There’s a reason Philadelphia drafted him with the second pick in the 2016 draft. In 2017, he was the odds-on favorite to win the NFL’s Most Valuable Player award before going down with a torn anterior cruciate ligament.

Wentz can play. But can he stay healthy?

The Colts thought so, at least enough to trade a 2021 third-round draft pick and a conditional second-round 2022 draft pick — the conditions of which were based on Wentz’s health, and how many snaps he played, etc.

The chances of that pick getting bumped up to a first took a huge hit last week when Wentz felt pain in his foot, enough that he got it checked out. The injury turned out to be a broken bone, an injury Wentz “unknowingly suffered a broken foot at some point in his career, likely in high school, and when the quarterback planted his foot in practice last Thursday, a piece of the bone came loose,” according to The Indianapolis Star.

Just like that, the Colts’ new offensive leader was shelved “for five to 12 weeks.”

So now what?

With Wentz on the mend[s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level3)], backup Jacob Eason is taking snaps with the first-team offense, with Ehlinger getting the backup snaps. If Ehlinger had any objection to getting third-team snaps because he lasted until the next-to-last round of the draft, those concerns are gone. Ready or not, playing time — preseason playing time, at least — is coming his way.

There are two kinds of rookie quarterbacks. For guys like Trevor Lawrence or Trey Lance or Justin Fields, the only question is not if they will play, but when they will get on the field. Each was drafted in the first round, meaning the teams that selected those players have invested a fortune in the players they see as their quarterbacks of the future. 

But for passers chosen in the latter rounds, or who sign as undrafted free agents, the goal is not about when they will get on the field. Instead, those players have to focus on an extra step: making the team.

Ehlinger already had a good chance to make the team. Last year’s starter, Philip Rivers, retired after 17 season in the NFL, and his backup, Jacoby Brissett, is now a Miami Dolphin. Eason is the only holdover, and Ehlinger is joined by journeyman Brett Hundley and undrafted free agent Jalen Morton in a battle for the third quarterback spot.

The key word there is “third.” Some NFL teams carry only two quarterbacks; if Indianapolis was one of those teams, Ehlinger’s odds of making the roster would be decidedly longer. But Colts head coach Frank Reich has said he likes to carry three at the position, meaning that even if Wentz enjoys a miraculously speedy recovery, Ehlinger has a good shot of making the team’s 53-man roster. Hundley is due to make a little more ($990,000) than Ehlinger (almost $791K) this season, but teams spend a lot of time and money scouting and evaluating draft picks. If the competition between the two is close, Ehlinger should have a leg up.

If Wentz has a long recovery, there’s a good chance Ehlinger and Hundley both could make the roster unless …

Rivers has not ruled out the idea of coming out of retirement. When he retired after 16 seasons with the San Diego/Los Angeles Chargers and one with the Colts, he said he planned to coach high school football; he now is the head coach at St. Michael Catholic High School in Fair Hope, Ala. He coached the Cardinals in their spring game, and has said all the right things in his aw-shucks vernacular … but then said Tuesday that he would not rule out taking off the headset to grab a helmet and return to an NFL team in need of a veteran quarterback. Rivers admitted he is not in “football shape” but insisted he is “staying ready,” and that as far as a comeback, “… I have not completely ruled that out.”

If his vision of a return to the field means at the end of a season for a team eyeing a playoff push, the Colts might not be his ideal dance partner, because if they’re going to need a veteran quarterback, it would be at the beginning of the season, not the end. Rivers is one of the most prolific quarterbacks in NFL history, but when he’s healthy, it is Wentz who will get every opportunity to claim the starting job.

This brings the talk back to Ehlinger. Multiple reports have suggested the Colts’ coaches are pleased with his ability to learn the offense, and teammates, coaches and media have raved about Ehlinger’s work ethic. If the season started tomorrow, it seems almost assured he will make the team. The season doesn’t start tomorrow, of course. The Colts’ first game is not until Sept. 12, when they host the Seattle Seahawks. 

Ehlinger will be the first to say he doesn’t want to make a team because someone else gets injured … but he also knows injuries are a part of football. In the worst-case scenario, Ehlinger will make the team’s practice squad.

The team could, of course, bring in another veteran quarterback as a stopgap fill-in while Wentz is shelved. But until then, however, it appears the former Longhorn has an outstanding shot of making the team. If he can beat out Hundley — and that’s a legitimate possibility — he could end up on the roster whether or not the team adds another veteran signal-caller.

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