2:22pm: Even with the Colts pushing to get Campbell to unretire, the veteran quarterback is “highly unlikely” to return to action this season, says Adam Schefter of ESPN.com, adding that Campbell could still make a comeback next year.
1:39pm: With Andrew Luck sidelined for the next few weeks, the Colts are considering their options for adding a quarterback to back up Matt Hasselbeck. According to Pro Football Talk (via Twitter), the Colts’ search for a backup has the team attempting to lure free agent signal-caller Jason Campbell into unretiring. As the PFT report notes, Campbell played for the Browns the year that new Colts offensive coordinator Rob Chudzinski was the team’s head coach.
Campbell, who turns 34 next month, was said to be planning on retirement back in June, but he never made the decision official. The veteran QB reportedly received inquiries from at least three teams in the summer, and got a call from the Cowboys when Tony Romo went down.
Over the course of his NFL career, Campbell has appeared in 90 games (79 starts) for Washington, Oakland, Chicago, Cleveland, and Cincinnati. He saw his most extensive action in D.C., where he started 52 contests for Washington after being selected by the club in the first round of the 2005 draft. Most recently, he backed up Andy Dalton with the Bengals in 2014.
While Campbell’s 32-47 career record as a starter isn’t overly impressive, his career stats – including a 60.3% completion percentage, an 81.7 passer rating, and 87 touchdowns to 60 interceptions – are respectable. For a Colts team vying to make the playoffs, he’d likely be a more reliable insurance policy than someone like practice squad quarterback Alex Tanney.
Campbell would seemingly be one of the more-qualified backup QBs in the game. Being in so many systems throughout his career, Campbell fits in as a relief option.
I say at least give Kellen Moore a shot to join the roster. I think if given a shot could really do a great job. He had out of the world numbers in college and he even beat big SEC teams and was a Heisman candidate. With pre season numbers with Detroit he had a good QB rating.