Just two weeks ago, Sam Ehlinger was the Colts’ third-string quarterback, behind both Matt Ryan and Nick Foles. Then Ehlinger leapfrogged Foles on the depth chart, and now Ehlinger will start ahead of Ryan. Colts head coach Frank Reich says it’s all about winning.
“Best for the team,” Reich answered when asked why the Colts are turning to Ehlinger now.
The ostensible reason for Ryan’s benching is that he’s injured, but Reich acknowledged that Ryan probably would have found a way to play this week.
Reich insisted, however, that the Colts aren’t just packing it in on the season by moving on to Ehlinger, a 2021 sixth-round pick.
“Waving the white flag, that’s not in our DNA,” Reich said. “I would never do that in a million years.”
The reality is, the biggest reason Ehlinger will start for the season is that the Colts already realize they made a mistake by trading for Ryan, and they won’t want to compound that mistake by risking him getting injured, which would cost them massively because it would trigger huge guarantees for him in 2023.
So while a healthy Ryan may be a better option than Ehlinger if the goal is simply to win this year, Reich is thinking about the best thing for the Colts in the long run, and that means keeping Ryan on the sideline while Ehlinger plays.