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Carson Wentz’s future with the Indianapolis Colts remains up in the air, but the quarterback apparently hasn’t lost the confidence of his head coach.
“I got a lot of belief in Carson,” Frank Reich said, per SiriusXM NFL Radio. “I think he did a lot of good things this year but we fell short.”
The quarterback position will remain under scrutiny in Indianapolis until the team makes a decision, especially since ESPN’s Chris Mortensen (h/t Ari Meirov of Pro Football Focus) previously reported that Wentz’s future with the team was “bleak” with the team “probably” looking to trade or release him before his $15 million base salary becomes guaranteed on March 19.
General manager Chris Ballard also addressed the Wentz situation at the NFL Scouting Combine when he said, “I don’t have the direct answer for you,” per ESPN’s Field Yates. “We’re working through it. … Ultimately we’ll do what’s best for the Colts.”
It’s hard to argue with Reich’s assessment that Wentz did a number of good things during his first season with the Colts.
After all, he completed 62.4 percent of his passes for 3,563 yards, 27 touchdowns and seven interceptions. He might not have played at the level he did as an MVP candidate and the leader of the Philadelphia Eagles prior to an ACL tear in 2017, but he was largely solid and much better than he was in 2020 when he led the league with 15 interceptions.
Yet the end of the season still lingers over the Colts.
The team improved from 1-4 to 9-6 and appeared well on its way to the playoffs before losing the final two games to the Las Vegas Raiders and Jacksonville Jaguars. Wentz failed to throw for even 200 yards in either of those losses and had an interception and lost a fumble in the stunning defeat to Jacksonville.
It was part of a larger pattern of inconsistent play for the North Dakota State product, who threw for fewer than 200 yards in six of the last eight games.
That posed an even bigger problem as opponents started to stack the box to slow down dominant running back Jonathan Taylor.
Still, Reich apparently believes in Wentz, which doesn’t come as much of a surprise considering their history together. He was the offensive coordinator in Philadelphia during that 2017 Super Bowl-winning campaign and saw what Wentz is capable of while playing at his best.
Whether the Colts as a whole believe he can return to that form will likely determine the quarterback’s immediate future.
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