As is his custom, Colts owner Jim Irsay left a few people scratching their heads after he talked about his quarterback situation.
But one thing was clear — he was not interested in former 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick.
Irsay struck mostly hopeful tones about Andrew Luck’s recovery from shoulder surgery, and admitted they talked about adding a veteran other than Scott Tolzien to the roster. But not that one.
Via Gregg Doyel of the Indianapolis Star, Irsay was asked if they considered bringing in a quarterback “like Kaepernick.”
“We did have a [quarterback] candidate or two,” Irsay said. “I think that we came semi-close to bringing in a mid-30, mid-to-late 30 guy. We had a [salary] number. The guy wanted more than the number. It wasn’t Kaepernick. It just didn’t work out so we moved on.”
While that leaves a bit of mystery (did they make a run at Jay Cutler?), Irsay was also unclear about Luck’s status, with the Sept. 10 opener at the Rams looming on the horizon.
Asked if he had seen his quarterback throw, Irsay replied: “I have, and I haven’t.”
He was equally confusing about when he thought Luck might play.
“He could play [against the Rams],” Irsay said, “but he could not.”
“I can’t say that unequivocally he’ll be ready for the Ram game,” Irsay added, “but I can say I feel very confident that he’ll be ready to start the season. Now that may not be the Ram game, but to start the season, yes.”
He also said he trusts his coaching staff to handle things if Luck misses extended time: “If it is two games, hypothetically.”
While Irsay may or may not actually grasp Luck’s current status (or the schedule), the fact he was so adamant about the one guy is interesting in and of itself.
And now we’ll wait for future smoke signals from Indianapolis to try to figure out when exactly their quarterback might be back.