Former Wisconsin Badger QB Scott Tolzien will start the season under center for the Indianapolis Colts.
On Monday, his birthday no less, former Wisconsin QB Scott Tolzien was named the week one starter for the Indianapolis Colts. Indy’s regular starter Andrew Luck is still not recovered from offseason shoulder surgery.
As a result, Tolzien will get the chance to show his worth to the Colts and the rest of the NFL. This development is not a major surprise and had been rumored for weeks.
Everyone including Tolzien recognizes the starting opportunity is temporary. The moment Andrew Luck is medically cleared he will retake the starting job. Irrespective of how Tolzien performs.
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Nonetheless, this is vitally important for Tolzien’s NFL future. That’s because he is in the final year of his two-year Colts contract. Tolzien hits unrestricted free agency in 2018.
The starting job, whether it’s one week or more, is his audition to justify Indianapolis keeping him around. In addition, he might create some demand for his services with another bidder.
With NFL teams determined not to sign Colin Kaepernick and guys like Austin Davis and Joe Webb getting signed, it’s clear the talent pool is pretty shallow for backup QBs. So opportunity beckons in a big way for Tolzien.
However, there are signals that Tolzien may have a short leash in Indianapolis. The Colts traded former 1st rounder Phillip Dorsett to New England in exchange for the Patriots 3rd string QB Jacob Brissett.
It will take Brissett some time to digest the Colts playbook and be ready for game action. It’s not a lock that he’ll even be on the active roster on Sunday.
Yet, the Colts wouldn’t make the move to add another backup with NFL starting experience if they were completely comfortable with what they already had.
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So good luck to Tolzien. The Colts take on the LA Rams to start the season. If Tolzien is lucky, Rams star DL Aaron Donald continues his holdout. But he’ll have a tough job regardless against a good pass defense and behind a porous Indianapolis offensive line.