NFL rumors: 3 teams that should trade for Marcus Mariota

The Indianapolis Colts enter another offseason with a void at the quarterback position.

At the start of the 2020 league year, the team opted to bring in Philip Rivers, formerly of the Chargers, to start under center. Rivers performed admirably, as he threw for 4,169 yards, 24 touchdowns and 11 interceptions on a 68.0 completion percentage. After the Colts’ Wild Card Round elimination at the hands of the Buffalo Bills, Rivers announced his retirement from the NFL.

In addition to Rivers, Jacoby Brissett is set to hit free agency. Originally deemed the successor to Andrew Luck, Brissett only received one season as a starter before the Colts pivoted to Rivers. So the Colts have Jacob Eason on the quarterback depth chart.

It is not an exaggeration to say that Indianapolis is a quarterback’s dream destination. They have a top-tier offensive line, a dynamic running game and a youthful wide receiving corps. It gets no better than that. But the Colts are at a disadvantage. They don’t hold a high draft pick to land one of the top quarterback prospects in this year’s NFL Draft. And they are unlikely to move their first round pick for Wentz, especially since he is coming off the worst season of his career.

The Colts would be wise to take a chance on Mariota to see if he can play like he did in his lone appearance for the Raiders and possibly like he did at Oregon. Indianapolis can do it, because they have $69 million in cap space this offseason and easily take on Mariota’s $10.7 million cap hit.