Shane Steichen is the new head coach of the Indianapolis Colts.
The now-former Philadelphia Eagles offensive coordinator will be tasked with turning around a team that went 4-12 last season under a combination of Frank Reich and interim head coach Jeff Saturday. As an offensive mind, he’ll also be one of the key cogs of the machine that will find Indy’s next quarterback. The Colts have the No. 4 pick in the draft and appear to be in a good position to pick one of the top quarterbacks in the draft: C.J. Stroud from Ohio State, Bryce Young from Alabama or Will Levis from Kentucky.
Getting a quarterback will be a priority for Indianapolis, and landing that pick and drafting the correct one is going to be a huge part of the puzzle. With that said, owner Jim Irsay also seems to have faith in Steichen which one assumes is apart from his ability to coach up a quarterback.
Mind you, Steichen was one of 14 coaches to interview for this position, and Indianapolis was in no rush to make the decision despite outside pressure.
“Shane just knocked it out of the park and really showed the qualities that put him above during the whole process as our man,” Irsay said, per ESPN.
With that said, getting things right at quarterback is undoubtedly part of Steichen’s mandate, and ESPN is reporting that the Colts believe he has a “mad scientist” quality to him and that in the interview process, he gave the organization a specific plan on how he’d develop a new quarterback for Indianapolis.
“I think accuracy, decision-making and the ability to create are the three things that I look at in a quarterback,” Steichen recently explained. “I think those three things are very important. But the above the neck, the players that I’ve been around — Jalen Hurts, Justin Herbert and Philip Rivers — they all have one thing in common: They’re obsessed with their craft. And if you can find that in a quarterback, you’re probably going to have some success.”
Steichen was the offensive coordinator for the Eagles this past season, helping Jalen Hurts have an MVP-caliber season and putting together an offense that scored 28.1 points per game in the regular season and 34.7 in the postseason en route to an appearance in Super Bowl LVII.
Steichen was the offensive coordinator for the Los Angeles Chargers in 2019 and 2020. He played quarterback at the University of Nevada from 2003 to 2006 before entering the coaching ranks in 2010.
