Ballard talks Jacob Eason.
Of the many question marks the Indianapolis Colts face this offseason, the quarterback position will be at the forefront. Not only that, there are many wondering what the team has in fourth-round pick Jacob Eason.
After a redshirt year of sorts, Eason is currently the only quarterback under contract for the Colts this offseason. That said, even the Colts don’t really know what they have in the young gunslinger.
“We drafted Jacob Eason last year who we like. We have to find out a lot more about Jacob Eason. No offseason program,” said Chris Ballard in his year-end press conference. “Really the first time we saw Jacob was in training camp and there’s no preseason games, so we are trying to get ready for the season at that point. But we like what we’ve seen from Jacob. We think we really have a really good young talent in Jacob Eason.”
It still isn’t clear what will happen with Philip Rivers, who is balancing a decision of return or retirement. It is likely that Jacoby Brissett hits free agency and that his tenure with the Colts will be over.
Eason has a high ceiling, one that has intrigued the Colts since they drafted him in the fourth round. There is still a lot about his game, though, that they don’t know about. That includes processing skills, handling pressure and overall instincts given his limited work as a starter in college and without any preseason games in the NFL.
Even if the Colts bring in another quarterback or re-sign Rivers this offseason, Ballard still isn’t quite ready to name Eason the backup.
“I’m not ready to say I’m comfortable with it enough. We liked him when we drafted him. We think he’s really talented,” Ballard said. “It was such a different year (with no true offseason program) to really evaluate him in the bullets. We still have to go through that with Jacob.”
While the Colts essentially have to go through the process with Eason again in 2021, Ballard mentioned how impressed he was with the way the rookie carried himself in an odd year.
“But let me tell you this about Jacob Eason, he kept his mouth shut and he worked. He was in a great quarterback room with a lot of experience and got to take all that in,” Ballard said. “I got to visit with him for about 30 minutes the other day. I asked him, ‘How did you grow? What did you learn?’ He had a great answer that just watching Philip, Jacoby, Frank, Nick (Sirianni) and Marcus (Brady) talk ball, how they carried themselves, how they worked, how they were professionals, all of that was something that he absorbed.”
What happens this offseason will determine how much of a chance Eason will get in 2021, but the Colts still see him as a high-ceiling player.
Now, they just have to see him in action before knowing what they have in him.
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