Early Season Injury Stand-In
Indianapolis Colts
Predicted 2026 starter: Gardner Minshew
The Colts are in an interesting bind, having found success with Daniel Jones last season but:
Let’s start with the first point. I suspect the team wants to bring Jones back but would likely prefer to sign him to a multiyear deal considering he is unlikely to play until late 2026 at the earliest. But the Colts have some leverage. As much as they might need Jones, they also offer him a better path to starting again in a situation where he’s had more success than anywhere else. Indianapolis would probably offer him more money than anyone else due to that success.
But if the Colts bring Jones back, they’ll need another QB to start the season. And they would want it to be someone they can win with in the short and medium term — but probably not someone who would cost too much or to whom they would have to commit beyond 2026.
Enter Minshew. The journeyman had more success playing for Shane Steichen in 2023 than at any other point in his career. Steichen got much more out of Minshew — who recorded a 60.4 QBR that season — than he has out of Joe Flacco (50.0) or Anthony Richardson Sr. (44.4). That 2023 earned Minshew $15 million fully guaranteed from the Raiders the next offseason, but it went so badly in Vegas that he played for the Chiefs for just $1.2 million last season. It was feared that Minshew had torn his ACL in December, but he did not.
Because Minshew’s star has fallen, he would be a cheap option for the Colts to pair with second-year QB Riley Leonard while they wait for Jones to heal.