Colts 2015 Player Preview: Quarterback Bryan Bennett

For the last three years, the Colts have been working with Chandler Harnish as their training camp quarterback, but they moved on from him last season and he is now with the Arizona Cardinals.  As such, the Colts were looking for another quarterback to come in as the number three guy behind Andrew Luck and Matt Hasselbeck in training camp and preseason, and they may have found that guy in Bryan Bennett.

Bennett, a 6-2, 211 pound quarterback, was undrafted out of Southeastern Louisiana in this year's draft.  He began his career by spending two years at Oregon, where he played in 17 games and completed 45 of 83 passes for 580 yards, nine touchdowns, and three interceptions while rushing for 365 yards and six touchdowns on 62 carries.  After the 2012 season he transferred to Southeastern Louisiana, where he played in 27 games over the past two seasons.  He completed 358 of 643 passes for 5,522 yards, 39 touchdowns, and 19 interceptions while adding 1,715 yards and 31 touchdowns rushing on 320 carries.  In his four seasons of collegiate football combined, Bennett played in 44 games and completed 55.5 percent of his passes (403 of 726) for 6,102 yards (8.4 yards per attempt), 48 touchdowns, and 12 interceptions while adding 2,080 yards and 37 touchdowns rushing on 382 carries, averaging 5.4 yards per attempt.

He is an athletic player with clear natural talent who was productive in college, but he's a guy who clearly needs some more work.  At the 2015 NFL Scouting Combine, he had the fastest throw of any quarterback as he was clocked at 60 miles per hour - so he obviously has the arm strength too.  As NFL.com's Lance Zierlein wrote about him,

Plays the game with too much arm and not enough eyes at this stage. Doesn't appear to have the awareness or football intelligence teams typically look for in quarterbacks and his accuracy and decision making can be big issues at times. Bennett has an easy release with adequate arm talent and above-average athleticism. There are enough tools in his shed to end up as a project on a team's practice squad or a potential No. 3 quarterback.

There's a lot for the Colts to work with in Bryan Bennett, and his athleticism and arm strength make him a player to keep an eye on in training camp.  The Colts are set at quarterback with starter Andrew Luck and backup Matt Hasselbeck firmly entrenched in those roles, but the team will be looking for a backup to replace Hasselbeck once he decides to retire (whenever that may be).  They could groom Bennett into that role, but that remains to be seen.  What we know right now is that it's likely that Bennett will get a chance to compete with the Colts in training camp and in preseason, and while there might not be a spot on the 53-man roster for him this year, he might be a guy the Colts choose to keep working with.  He'll need to impress in camp and preseason for that to happen and it's no sure thing, of course, but he'll be a guy to keep an eye on.