Colts General Manager Chris Ballard said recently that to trade backup quarterback Jacoby Brissett, “It would take somebody doing something that would blow me away, and it has to be the right thing for the kid, too.” Brissett thinks the right thing for him is to start.
Brissett told FOX 59 in Indianapolis that he would rather be a starter than Andrew Luck’s backup.
“I want to be a starter in this league,’’ he said. “If that’s what you’re asking me, yeah, I want to be a starter in this league.’’
Brissett isn’t trying to make waves or force his way out of Indianapolis, but he’s being honest: He’s a competitor and he’d like to compete on Sundays, not hold a clipboard.
Realistically, however, there’s little reason for the Colts to trade Brissett to another team. He’s a good backup on a cheap contract, with a salary of just $890,000 for 2019. Colts owner Jim Irsay has said he wouldn’t want Ballard to trade Brissett even if another team offered a first-round draft pick.
So Brissett probably won’t be a starter until 2020, when he can shop himself to a team that is ready to play him -- and pay him.