Colts re-sign quarterback Josh Johnson, place cornerback Jalil Brown on injured reserve

With uncertainty surrounding the Colts' quarterback position, the team has re-signed Josh Johnson to be the third quarterback on the active roster.  To make room for Johnson, the team placed cornerback Jalil Brown on injured reserve.

The Colts initially signed Johnson last Friday and he served as the backup to Matt Hasselbeck with Andrew Luck missing Sunday's game against the Jaguars.  He was then released on Monday because the Colts needed a cornerback, but now he's back.  Johnson has played in 29 career NFL games (five starts), completing 96 of 177 passes (54.2%) for 1,042 yards (5.9 yards per attempt), five touchdowns, and ten interceptions while also rushing for 274 yards on 44 carries (6.2 yards per attempt).  He has spent time with the Buccaneers, Browns, Bengals, and 49ers, as well as spending time with both the Bengals and the Jets this offseason and training camp.

Don't read too much into the signing of a third quarterback this time around.  Last week, it served as just another clue that Luck wasn't going to play, but I don't think that this necessarily means that this time.  I think that this probably has just as much to do with the fact that Matt Hasselbeck missed practice on Tuesday with an illness as it does with Luck's injured shoulder.  With the top two both dealing with either an injury or illness, it makes sense to add a third quarterback just in case.  It could mean that Luck won't play, sure, but I don't think that the move was made with that as the plan.

As for Jalil Brown, he suffered a groin injury last week that Chuck Pagano described as "week to week" (which means that it will be a lengthy recovery time with the Colts).  It's unfortunate, as he was a star of training camp and preseason and earned a spot on the 53-man roster.  He was thrust into a bigger role, starting three games this year.  He wasn't great, but keep in mind that he entered the season as the fifth cornerback.  As a depth player, he was valuable, but unfortunately now he's on injured reserve.  So, if you're counting, the Colts now have three cornerbacks on their injured reserve (Brown, Josh Mitchell, and Tevin Mitchel), another on injured reserve with a designation to return (D'Joun Smith), and another who was placed on injured reserve but released with an injury settlement (Sheldon Price).  And that's not even mentioning the fact that Greg Toler has missed the first four games of the season, Darius Butler has missed two games, and now Vontae Davis' status for Thursday's game is very much in question.  It hasn't been a good year for the Colts' cornerbacks.