The Colts recently signed the long time Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers to a one-year deal worth about $25 million. The obvious question after this signing is “what will the front office do about Brissett?”
Chris Ballard and the Colts front office made it clear at the beginning of last season that Jacoby Brissett was their guy for the near future. They inked an extension that paid him handsomely for his role as the Colts starting quarterback. The $30 million over two years with $20 million in guarantees made sense at the time.
However, with two starting quarterback salaries to pay and a fiscally smart front office, the odds are that Brissett will either be forced to take a pay cut, be traded, or hit the open market.
Jacoby Brissett hits the Colts salary cap at around $21 million if he stays on the team. If the Colts decide to part way with him, they’d have about $12 million in dead cap money but save the$ 8.875 million roster bonus at the beginning of the season.
This is the one upside to the short term, low guaranteed money Chris Ballard talks about consistently. The benefits are you can get out out of the contract with ease, the bad news is if that player blows up they’ll want a significant pay increase.
Philip Rivers has a cap hit of $25 million as all of the money was guaranteed – as far as what I can see. This all being said, many fans have argued the Colts overpaid for Rivers. I’d like to remind them Brissett – who they complained about all season long – was making just $3.5 million less than a legit starter.
Besides simply just letting him hit the open market, the Colts will presumably seek a trade for him and recoup a draft pick or two in the later rounds for him. Teams such as the Saints who recently let Teddy Bridgewater walk or the Panthers who signed Bridgewater could use legit backups.
One thing is for certain though, Brissett is arguably the best back up in the NFL showing flashes of brilliance in during the season but just lacking that aggressive play the fans are used to seeing with Peyton Manning and Andrew Luck behind center.
Brissett isn’t a bad player, he was just too conservative on his plays. My one gripe with this team was their reliance on the running game and defense to win games. Brissett wasn’t consistent either. He’d had games like he did against Kansas City where he handed the ball off to Mack the whole game, but then he’d play great against the Texans two weeks later with career day numbers, then play like he did against the Steelers and turn the ball over.
The Brissett experiment was a great one, successful even depending on your view of the season, but that time has come to an end. Whether they trade or cut him, Brissett was our quarterback for a time and I have to say, did the best with what he had to work with. I blame many of the failures of the offense on the coaching staff rather than the play of the players.
However, it is time for the Colts to move forward and think about the 2020 season and whether or not they will take a quarterback with the number 34 overall pick.