It’s hard to fathom that an 8-5 team, once heralded as one of the best in the league, is considered done for the season.

This way of thinking comes after the Indianapolis Colts quarterback, Daniel Jones suffered a season-ending achilies injury in the first half of Sunday’s game. To make matters worse, backup quarerback Anthony Richardson is still on injured reserve and is not expected to return this week. On top of that, the Colts only “healthy” quarterback on the roster, Riley Leonard is dealing with a knee injury.

The one good news is that the Colts have an actually healthy quarterback on their practice squad, Brett Rypien. The last time he threw a pass was in 2023 when he was with the Los Angeles Rams. He is certainly not the kind of talent the Colts need as a backup or potential starter down the stretch. According to Shane Steichen, the injury to Riley Leonard doesn’t look serious. However, the Colts need to sign another quarterback as soon as possible and there are two ways they can go about that.

Sign a Backup for Riley Leonard

This is certainly the easier path as Leonard is already familiar with the offense. The reason for signing another guy is just for insurance in case Leonard aggravates his knee during a game or something else bad happens. This can keep Rypien on the practice squad as a potential emergency quarterback.

In order to get someone to be a backup, would require that guy is signed off the couch. What this means is that the Colts would need to sign someone who is not currently on a roster. To try and bring in someone to be a backup from another team is just too unrealistic this late in the season. That being said, according to multiple reports, future Hall of Famer and former starting quarterback for the Colts, Philip Rivers, is expected to work out with the team on Tuesday. Rivers is a fully retired quarterback who has not played in the league since 2020. In that year, he actually led the Colts to 10 wins and playoff birth.

Because Rivers is 44 years old, it would make more sense to have him be a backup who could come in for a game if needed. Even though, he has natural talent, and has incredible smarts, it’s hard to flip the switch and go back into game action when one has been away for half a decade. If signed, it would seem very irresponsible for the Colts to try and utilize Rivers as anything but a backup.

Sign a Starter for the Remainder of the Season

In order for the Colts to really take a stab at salvaging this season, though extremely unlikely for them to pull off, they would be to sign an experienced quarterback to carry the team for the next four games. Unfortunately, there aren’t a lot of options this late in the season. Nonetheless, there are still options.

Joe Flacco

It would be remiss to not include Joe Flacco as an option. The 40-year-old quarterback has played a good bit of football this season and has already played the role of an emergency playmaker for the Bengals. If the Colts were to sign him, that would make him the starter for three different teams in one season.

On top of Flacco having the experience and talent, he has also played under Shane Steichen’s offense when he started games for them just last season. The Bengals are officially out of the playoff picture and with so much on the line for the Colts, this move is feasible.

Russell Wilson

Russell Wilson is another veteran quarterback who has started games this season and still has talent and smarts to step into game action immediately. Although Wilson does not have the same “emergency quarterback” experience as Flacco, he does have much-needed experience at just playing the position. This is something the Colts currently don’t have on their roster.

Assuming that Wilson is not ready to retire just yet, this could be a great opportunity for him to try and get redemption. If he were to play for the Colts and win games, that would bode well for a potential trade in 2026 to be a starter somewhere else. In his current situation with the Giants, he is a backup at best.

It should be obvious that the Colts organization is not and should not tank on this season. Sitting at 8-5, they still control their own destiny to the playoffs. In order to make this happen, they must win out and the best option to make this happen is to bring in a veteran with ample experience. Wilson and Flacco possess that.