A play away, QB Sam Ehlinger believes 2022 starts will serve him well if Colts need him

INDIANAPOLIS — Sam Ehlinger is once again a play away from the lineup.

Ehlinger, who started three games for the Colts in 2022, has spent most of the season as the team’s third quarterback, taking far fewer snaps in training camp than Anthony Richardson or Gardner Minshew, and leading the scout team during the season.

But the news that Richardson is expected to miss at least the next four weeks — and maybe more — due to a separated shoulder pushes Ehlinger up the depth chart again.

Minshew is the Indianapolis starting quarterback for the near future.

Ehlinger’s a play away, an NFL cliché that also happens to be true, as evidenced by the first five games of the Indianapolis season. Minshew, the team’s veteran backup, has already played 170 snaps, relieving Richardson in two games and starting another.

The good news is the team’s new No. 2 has experience.

“It doesn’t change much,” Ehlinger said of the move up the depth chart. “The process stays the same.”

Ehlinger completed 63.4% of his passes, averaged 5.7 yards per attempt, took 14 sacks and compiled a 76.0 quarterback rating in three starts and 120 snaps last season, snaps that showed Ehlinger belongs at the NFL level, even if he wasn’t ready to handle the starting role.

Those 120 snaps were also invaluable to Ehlinger’s development.

No matter how much time a young quarterback puts into the film room, the playbook and the game plans in front of him, there’s an element to reading defenses that cannot be replicated until he’s on the field.

“When you play, you get live feedback,” Ehlinger said. “I got some live feedback last year to be able to figure out what I needed to work on, and for me that was processing, getting the ball out of my hand quicker.”

For Ehlinger, the eye-opening game was his second start, a disastrous loss to the New England Patriots and Bill Belichick, who is well-known for his ability to make life difficult on young quarterbacks.

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“It’s really easy to sit back in a laid-back environment, on the sideline or in the film room, the bullets aren’t really flying, to say, ‘Oh yeah, you’ve got to go with the ball here,’” Ehlinger said. “It’s a lot different when you have it right in front of you, the ball’s in your hands, what are you going to do?”

Even just 120 snaps is enough to change the way Ehlinger prepared this offseason.

“It’s kind of the feel, the understanding of the speed of the game,” Ehlinger said. “You get live feedback on throws you need to work on, coverages you weren’t good against for what reason, sloppy footwork in this drop or this concept. The feedback is exponentially higher than if you weren’t playing.”

Ehlinger has no snaps this season, but if he has to go in on a moment’s notice, he's much more prepared than he would’ve been without last season's experience.

Sam Ehlinger's NFL experience

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Colts: Sam Ehlinger believes he is prepared to play if needed