A hidden motive could be the reason for Colts surprisingly hiring Jeff Saturday as interim coach

The Indianapolis Colts shockingly hired Jeff Saturday as interim head coach but there could be a hidden motive behind the surprise move.

Monday was a roller coaster for the Indianapolis Colts. After falling to 3-5-1 on the season with a loss to the New England Patriots on Sunday, Indy made the decision to fire Frank Reich. While the timing of the move was shocking, many could see that Reich’s time with the Colts was coming to an end. However, the shock from the timing of that move can’t even compare to what Indy did next. After not immediately naming an interim head coach, Indianapolis eventually announced that franchise legend, Jeff Saturday, would be the team’s interim coach.

This move took the entire NFL world by surprise. Not only was Saturday not a part of Indy’s coaching staff before Monday, but he didn’t have any prior coaching experience in the NFL or college prior to being hired by Indianapolis. His only coaching experience at all was being the head coach of the Hebron Christian Academy football team in Dacula, Georgia. To the public, it just looks like Indianapolis skipped over all plausible options and went straight to Saturday.

This has led to many reporters and fans trying to figure out why, why would the Colts hire Saturday, someone with no high-level coaching experience? Since the announcement of the move, many have speculated and reported on some possible hidden motives that Indy may have with this latest move. Let’s take a look at 3 hidden motives that would explain this move that blindsided the NFL.

3. Colts could’ve hired Jeff Saturday to tank

Many fans have been calling for Indianapolis to tank, and while a professional team will never admit to doing it, what better way to tank than hiring a coach with no experience to take over a struggling team in the middle of the season? Indy could dress it up as giving a franchise legend a serious chance to be a coach, and the outcome could be the team losing every game for the remainder of the year and ending up with a high draft pick.

Even prior to the hiring of Saturday, it already didn’t look like the Colts would win many more games. Now that expectation really has to plummet with Jeff Saturday in charge. That’s no disrespect to Saturday but he’s entering into a pretty bad situation. As things currently stand, Indy doesn’t have a coach on staff that has ever called plays in the NFL before.

With factors like those in play and a first-time coach with no prior experience, Indianapolis could already be turning its attention to the draft.

2. Jim Irsay could be using Jeff Saturday as a spy

Admittedly, that sounds pretty bizarre. A team owner hiring a former player as an interim coach to be a spy in the franchise that they own sounds like the plot from dramatic sports series. However, it’s a plausible explanation according to a recent report from NFL insider Ian Rapoport.

On Monday, Rapoport reported that Irsay and Saturday have a really close relationship and that it’s not unreasonable to believe that Irsay made this call so that he can have eyes in the building reporting back to him for the next few months of the season. By putting Saturday in charge, Irsay will have a trusted friend that can tell him all the things about the everyday operation of the team that Irsay owns.

Rapoport says if nothing else, the hiring of Jeff Saturday as interim head coach could be a multi-month investigation of everyone in the organization, where Saturday takes everything he learns back to Jim Irsay before Irsay ultimately makes all of his final decisions for the offseason. If this is the case of some master plan concocted by Irsay, it’ll probably never be admitted but it would be one of the wildest things to witness in sports.

There’s no doubt that Indianapolis is approaching an offseason of change, and although Jim Irsay is an involved team owner, he’s probably not actively involved in the day-to-day actions like a head coach is. Putting a trusted source in the spot of head coach to gather intel does make a lot of sense. Saturday will be able to get a great look at everyone and everything in the organization and diagnose all the problems he sees. It then will be up to Irsay to make the changes he sees fit.

If this is what’s happening, that means Jim Irsay has tremendous trust in Jeff Saturday and believes in his ability to recognize problems with a franchise. If that’s the case, it would make sense for Irsay to keep Saturday on staff in the front office entering next season.

1. Jeff Saturday could just be a move to energize Colts fans

The final possible explanation is Jeff Saturday being used as a PR move to energize fans in the midst of a terrible season. It’s no secret that Indianapolis has disappointed this year. Entering the season, the Colts were expected to be Super Bowl contenders. Instead, they’re off to a 3-5-1 start with arguably the worst offense in the NFL. It was becoming clearer each week that things weren’t going to turn around this season and it’s possible that fans could’ve begun to check out, especially after the embarrassing loss to the New England Patriots in Week 9.

What better way to keep fans engaged than by temporarily hiring a beloved franchise legend that reminds everyone of the glory days as head coach? It’s a move that could energize Indianapolis, help with sales, and just keep everyone intrigued for a few more weeks of this underwhelming season. Former Colts’ punter, Pat McAfee, explained it perfectly in an NSFW fashion on Monday’s episode of The Pat McAfee Show.

If this was the plan by Jim Irsay and the Colts, it’s off to a great start. The shock of the move has dominated the Monday news cycle and people are surely going to tune in on Sunday to see Saturday’s head coaching debut, for better or for worse. Even if this situation is disastrous, as many believe it will be, it will probably still be entertaining— that’s the goal, right?

There’s also the possibility that there is no hidden motive. Maybe the Colts really do believe in the idea of Jeff Saturday as a head coach and wanted to give him an opportunity to prove himself. After all, he was an undersized, undrafted lineman that carved out an elite NFL career for himself, so the Colts could just be giving him another chance to overcome tough circumstances. We’ll have to watch and see how the situation unfolds and also if Indy’s true motive ever comes to light.

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