Colts' Obsession is a Plus for Jaguars and AFC South

The Jaguars' new administration is making a concerted effort to elevate the franchise into a higher dimension in the conference and the league as a whole. To accomplish that, General Manager James Gladstone and Head Coach Liam Coen need to create a situation in which they leap over teams in their division first.

One such team that could be ripe for the picking is the Indianapolis Colts. The enigmatic band of ballers repping the Hoosier State has talent on defense, but has made some head-scratching moves on the offensive side of the equation. Jacksonville Jaguars on SI Beat Writer John Shipley discussed this and more on a recent podcast.

"I do like the tight end they got, Tyler Warren, as a player. Do I think it was enough for [General Manager] Chris Ballard to attempt to win his annual Daytime Emmy on the draft videos when he fell to them, not exactly. I understand why [Colston] Loveland was the first tight end taken."

"I like Warren's game, but do I think Warren's gonna be a game breaker and a game changer in the NFL, like how maybe three or four tight ends are? I don't think so. I don't think he's gonna be close to Brock Bowers, etc, as a rookie. I do like his game, and I do acknowledge that most of the NFL has a void at tight end, but I also think that the Colts void at tight end was probably noticeably larger than a lot of teams."

As good as Warren was as a record breaker at Penn State, the Colts may have erred by ignoring their most glaring problem: a reliable quarterback to get them the football. But Ballard seemed star-struck and Jedi Mind-Tricked all of Indianapolis into drafting the First Team All-American instead of searching for a more viable option than a fourth-overall that has underwhelmed and a millionaire castoff from the Giants and Vikings.

"So, I think there are some positives for the Colts, some things for them to try to build around, but I also think their negatives are just too significant. And to me, the obvious negative is the quarterback position. I don't think there's a win for the Colts here."

"There's a Sopranos scene where Tony is talking to Uncle June about the whole New York situation. He more or less goes, 'I backed myself into a corner, and I don't see a way out of here. ' That's how I see the Colts in their quarterback situation. I'm not sure there is any answer at all for the Colts. The absolute best thing for the Colts in the short and long term would be for Anthony Richardson to develop and win that job and, quite simply, become the quarterback that he has yet to be in the NFL."

"Now, on the other side of that, how realistic is that scenario? I'm just not sure that there is a player who's taken the path of Richardson at the quarterback position and has become a good player. He has struggled with injuries and inaccuracy in the NFL. He simply needs to play more because he has not thrown a lot of passes in his football career, even dating back to college. But all of the things that were red flags coming out of Florida are still red flags. So yeah, that's the best case scenario. But how likely is it? I don't think it's very likely."

"If Daniel Jones wins the quarterback job, to me it's over for Anthony Richardson. Yeah, he might make a few spot starts here and there, but it's all like what Minsh [Gardner Minshew] did in 2020 after they quasi-benched him for Mike Glennon and Jake Luton. He was making some starts, but it was like a couple that broke up, still living in an apartment together. That's how I would see Anthony Richardson and the Colts. If Daniel Jones wins this job."

"If Daniel Jones is better than year-three Anthony Richardson training camp, then it's just not going to happen. And I think Daniel Jones is who he is. So if he wins the job, it's probably not because he was super impressive or anything. He was just better than Anthony Richardson. So, for my money, I'm not sure how many teams have a worse quarterback situation than the Indianapolis Colts."

All in all, Chris Ballard wasn't able to clone [Las Vegas Raiders] TE Brock Bowers, so he appeased his possibly unhealthy obsession by drafting Warren. But in the end, not addressing the maladies at the quarterback spot could make the infatuation a bankrupting one for his Colts, and an unmistakable profit for the Jacksonville Jaguars and the rest of the AFC South.

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