Eason Says He's a Gunslinger, But He'll Stay Holstered Once Joining Colts
The Indianapolis Colts training camp opens on July 28 and rookie Jacob Eason will be the guy who shows up in a franchise straightjacket. Totally under wraps. Held hostage.
People are eager to see the former University of Washington quarterback fling the football. They've already heard the fable how he can hit any blade of grass from just about anywhere on the field.
His coaches are determined to deflect all the burgeoning attention directed Eason's way. They want to put him through what amounts to pro football graduate school.
"Well, I've kind of pumped the brakes on the future starting job talk, and everyone's bringing up that narrative, just from the plain fact that he's got work to do," Colts general manager Chris Ballard said of Eason in a recent radio interview.
Eason will be asked to look and listen to what seasoned veterans Philip Rivers and Jacoby Brissett do.
He'll have to share some snaps initially with yet another Colts holdover in Chad Kelly, Jim Kelly's nephew who did something at Ole Miss that would have made Eason immortal had he had the chance to do it at Georgia — beat Alabama.
Speaking with beat reporters leading up to camp, Eason reiterated how he gave absolutely no thought to returning to Washington because he had attended college for four and a half years, and that was enough for him. Contrary to others, he felt there was nothing else for him to gain by playing another season with the Huskies.
The 6-foot-6, 231-pound quarterback from Lake Stevens, Washington, described himself to those writers as someone who likes to make things happen with that big arm of his. He envisions himself as someone who approaches the game similar to Brett Favre. Now he's got to show it, no easy feat.
"You've got to know your boundaries with it," he said. "But I prefer to have a gunslinger-type mentality. I'm going to cut it loose every chance I get, but obviously you've got to know the situation. You've got to know the right thing to do and the wrong thing to do with the ball."
Therein lies the unfolding situation with Eason, the pro quarterback wearing training wheels for the Colts. Can he think his way into the lineup some day and stay there?
Eason has a lot of active quarterbacks and ex-QBs who will be in his way or in his ear in Indianapolis. Rivers, Brissett and Kelly. Coach Frank Reich, who played for four teams, mostly with the Buffalo Bills. Quarterbacks coach Marcus Brady, a former CFL player.
"The No. 1 thing going from college to the pros is just how much information he’s able to just take in, because our playbook is much bigger than what he had in Washington in college," Brady said. "It's digesting our offense, our system, and then just the detail of each play, because we do more checks. If we’re not getting the right look, can he get us to this play? If they’re bringing pressure here, can he get us to this play?
"And so he’s learning all of that. Not only learning it, now he’s got to process it.”
Eason comes to Indianapolis as this great curiosity, yet as a fourth-rounder and no sure thing at the highest level of competition. See what two Colts scouts had to say to Colts.com about Eason after seeing him as far back as his freshman year at Georgia. Eason's arm gives him a fighting chance.
Rivers is definitely at the end of a long-winding career. Brissett has been injury-prone and pidgeon-holed as a backup for a few years now. Kelly was selected in the 2017 NFL draft as the last pick, known as Mr. Irrelevant, and the team has dropped him for personal misconduct. The new guy needs to find his place.
People last saw Eason play in the Las Vegas Bowl, highly efficient in a blowout win over Boise State. Outside of the NFL preseason, they might not spot him again behind center for another year or two.
"We feel good about the situation we're putting him into," said Ballard, the Indianapolis GM, told Colts.com. "We feel good about putting him behind Philip and Jacoby. Letting him compete and get better and grow with Frank and his leadership and his ability to coach quarterbacks.
"We think Jacob has a lot of talent, but he's got a ways to go, and he knows that he's got a lot of work to put in."
