Jim Irsay on the Colts’ future at quarterback — ‘all options open’

Impromptu press conferences don’t drum up particularly pleasant memories in Indianapolis. You can forgive the Colts fan base for holding its breath then when Zak Keefer announced Saturday morning that Colts owner Jim Irsay would be holding a press conference this afternoon.

Given all of the smoke that has started to build about what the Colts are planning to do at the quarterback position, there are a lot of different directions the press conference could take. Some fan can’t help holding onto the chance the Andrew Luck may return. Indianapolis has been linked to Philip Rivers and Derek Carr in recent days. There is still a rather strong contingent among the fan base who either thinks Jacoby Brissett should remain the start in 2020, or that he likely will.

Let’s take a look at what Irsay shared on each of these topics.

NOTHING NEW TO REPORT ON ANDREW LUCK

Let’s start by getting this out of the way, there is nothing new on Andrew Luck. He is still retired and there has been nothing rising above the level of idle speculation to indicate that he is planning a return to the NFL.

There is no escaping the reality that Luck staying in Indianapolis, spending time at the team facilities, and having dinner with the general manager and head coach will do nothing more than fuel rumors that he could contemplate a return to football. With that said, there has been no reliable piece of information that indicates the Luck is even thinking about a possible return.

At the end of the day, fans who are hoping for Luck to come back should probably be prepared to be just as surprised at that announcement as they were that he retired. Rumors and speculation will not go away, water cooler talk will keep the discussion alive, but if Luck returns it’s unlikely there will be reliable information indicating he has reached that decision until he announces it himself.

COMMENTS ON JACOBY BRISSETT

While Chris Ballard has always made it clear that he’ll look for opportunities to improve every year at every position, he has also been shrewd in free agency. This trait is part of the reason why so many fans have a hard time believing that the Colts will make a big-time move involving a large contract or draft picks to snag their quarterback of the future.

Beyond this, the reality is that Brissett suffered a knee injury in this middle of his season and noticeably dropped of in terms of production when he returned. Frankly, I wasn’t surprised at all to see him struggle and thought there were plenty of reasons to have him shut it down, rather than have him push it and cost the Colts football games.

Either way, Irsay made some comments today that will continue to fuel the idea that there is a very real, if not a very high, possibility that Jacoby Brissett will remain the starting quarterback for the Colts in 2020.

INTERESTING COMMENTS ABOUT DRAFTING QUARTERBACKS

One of the more interesting topics that came up in his press conference involved the 2012 NFL Draft. Irsay mentioned that the Colts were ready to draft Russell Wilson in the fourth round but the Seahawks took him in the third. This is after spending the top overall pick on Andrew Luck.

This could indicate that the Colts are going to approach the position with an open mind. Perhaps something happens in free agency and then also in the middle of the draft? Perhaps the Colts get their guy at 13 but still snag another talented prospect who is available? Only time will tell.

Perhaps the only thing that is actually clear following Irsay’s comments at quarterback is if the Colts have a plan on how they intend to address the quarterback position, they’re not going to let anyone outside of the organization know about it.