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The Indianapolis Colts know they have to address the most important position in football this offseason and how they will do that remains a bit unclear this early into the process.
Colts owner and CEO Jim Irsay spoke with the media for almost an hour on Wednesday discussing several topics ahead of the offseason. Of course, Irsay gave his thoughts on the best way to fix the quarterback position this offseason.
“First and foremost, I’d say in talking with Chris (Ballard), Frank (Reich) and myself, our beliefs are we are close. We have a tremendous nucleus of players that are capable of competing for the Super Bowl very soon,” Irsay said. “So ideally, if you can get someone to come in this year and several years after who is ready to go, it gives you your best opportunity and you don’t have as much of a maturation aspect of seeing them develop and get to that level that they need to get so you can get to a Super Bowl and win it.”
There are a few options available if the Colts go that route. The players available via free agency aren’t all that impressive but a trade for Matthew Stafford would fit that mold perfectly. The Colts are expected to be in trade talks for Stafford, though it remains to be seen how much they are willing to give up.
While that seems like one of the most likely options, Irsay also mentions getting a young quarterback in the draft could do wonders for the future.
“That being said, we’ll just have to see where opportunity pushes us because we really would love to be able to get a great young quarterback,” Irsay said. “Obviously, there are some out there that have been talked about coming out in this draft and we really just have to really evaluate and see where we are with them.”
Holding the No. 21 pick in the first round, it will be difficult for the Colts to trade up for one of the top four quarterback prospects. Given how many teams ahead of the Colts need quarterbacks, they would need to mortgage the future just to move up high enough to have a chance at grabbing one.
Where the Colts will go this offseason will be one of the biggest storylines of the next few months, but Irsay is confident the Colts will make the right moves.