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The Colts have now made official what everyone was reporting last night, that former Titans and Seahawks QB Matt Hasselbeck has been signed to play backup QB to Andrew Luck. There are few details at this time, but speculation last night was the deal would be for two years, $8 Million (from Bob Kravitz). A bit steep, but the Colts have been pretty generous this offseason already, so why stop now?
Hasselbeck became available earlier Tuesday when the Titans released him after signing former Bills QB Ryan Fitzpatrick to a two year deal, presumably to compete with Jack Locker. Hasselbeck was due to make over $5 Million in Tennessee this coming year, making it the obvious move to cut him loose, and the Colts swooped in and grabbed what owner Jim Irsay called an "Insurance Policy", which is exactly what it is. To be honest, though, if Hasselbeck has to play for an extended amount of time, it isn't going to be good for the Colts.
The best part of this deal, which I do like, is that Luck will be able to run ideas by him, and Hasselbeck will be able to share his fourteen years of experience with him (although I hope it isn't about scoring on the first possession of Overtime). He'll be able to go over Defenses, describe tendencies of certain Defenses (playing for the Titans last year means he saw almost the exact same Defenses Luck saw in Indy), etc. It's a win-win, but let's hope that Hasselbeck never has to see a snap. That'll mean good things for the Colts.
I see lots of talk about how this is the Colts learning their lesson from 2011, but without 2011, there's no Andrew Luck (although, to be fair, there'd be Peyton Manning), and there'd be no Chuck Pagano, no Ryan Grigson, etc. Sometimes things work out for a reason. Nobody should confuse this move with the Colts looking to win games if a catastrophic injury befalls Andrew Luck. In some ways, it's better to take your lumps, get a better draft pick, and come back firing the next season. Hasselbeck will help mostly with the mental aspect of playing QB, which I'm perfectly fine with. If he had to play it, though, it's still bad news for the Colts.
What do you think about the new backup QB?