Stampede Blue
This six-part Colts What If series looks back at some of the biggest turning points in franchise history, from the Peyton Manning draft decision to playoff heartbreak, quarterback pivots and coaching chaos, while revisiting what happened, what could have changed, and how different the Colts might look if one major moment had gone the other way.
For Part 4, we get to one of the most frustrating modern what-ifs because this was not some impossible fantasy created by hindsight.
I wrote about this at the time. In January 2021, before Matthew Stafford was traded to the Rams, I wrote that the Colts needed to acquire him. It made sense then, and it looks even more obvious now. The Colts had just gone 11-5 with Philip Rivers, made the playoffs, and pushed a very good Bills team in Buffalo. They had a roster ready to win. They had a coach in Frank Reich who needed a stable veteran quarterback. They had cap flexibility, draft capital and a clear opening at the most important position in football.
Stafford was available. The Colts needed him and they did not get him.
Instead, the Rams made the aggressive move, won the Super Bowl in Stafford’s first season, and have remained dangerous whenever he has been healthy. The Colts pivoted to Carson Wentz, then Matt Ryan, then Anthony Richardson, and the franchise has been trying to solve the same problem ever since.
That is what makes this one so painful. This was not just a missed move. This was the move that could have changed the entire 2020s for the Colts.
The biggest reason Stafford made sense is that the Colts did not need him to rescue a bad roster as they were already a playoff team.
The 2020 Colts went 11-5 with Rivers, and while Rivers played well, he was not in his prime anymore. His arm was limited, the offense had a ceiling, and the team still went toe-to-toe with Buffalo in the playoffs. The Colts were not asking Stafford to turn a five-win team into a contender. They were asking him to take an already good team and raise its ceiling.
That is exactly what Stafford did for the Rams. Los Angeles had a similar profile entering the 2021 offseason. The Rams were good, not broken. They had gone 10-6 the year before, made the playoffs, and had a roster that needed a quarterback upgrade to push them into the championship tier. They had more true superstars than the Colts, with Aaron Donald, Jalen Ramsey and Cooper Kupp leading the way, but the Colts had a more balanced roster in several areas.
Indianapolis had Jonathan Taylor, Michael Pittman Jr., a strong offensive line, a good defense, and enough depth to compete. The Rams were more top-heavy. The Colts were probably more balanced. Both teams were in the same basic category: good roster, quarterback question.
The Rams treated that as a reason to be aggressive and...
