Sam Ehlinger has 'done everything he's needed to do' to make Colts roster

INDIANAPOLIS -- Sam Ehlinger made a seven-step drop, saw the green grass form like an ocean and decided to take the plunge.

The Colts' third-string quarterback made it 30 yards before a Buccaneers defender came near him, then cut inside past a pair before pulling one into the end zone for a 45-yard touchdown.

It was the latest highlight in a preseason full of them. Through three games, he's been the Colts' leading rusher and one of the league's most explosive passers in a stretch of football that's widely considered meaningless.

But maybe at some point, the production starts to mean something. That's Ehlinger's hope after throwing four touchdowns and zero interceptions, completing 83% of his passes at nearly 10 yards per attempt, playing with backups and against backups.

It's something the Colts are having to ask themselves as they finalize the roster.

“Sam has had a phenomenal preseason," Colts coach Frank Reich said. "It’s hard to imagine having a better preseason than he’s had. He’s done everything he’s needed to do."

GREGG DOYEL: Sam Ehlinger's improved arm forcing Colts into tough roster choice

Like all teams, the Colts must pare their roster down to 53 players by Tuesday. For them, it means cutting 27 players. They'll sign some back to the practice squad, if they clear waivers and decide to take Indianapolis' offer over others on the market.

The decision with Ehlinger at this point appears to be more about other factors than it does him. The second-year, sixth-round pick out of Texas happens to play a position where only one man plays, shy of injury. And he has two veterans entrenched in spots ahead of him in Matt Ryan and Nick Foles, both of whom have a year left on their contracts.

Keeping a third quarterback would mean giving up something else, either a special teams starter or a backup at a position that could see the field, like cornerback, linebacker or wide receiver. That could be hard to square with a team that aggressively added Pro Bowl defenders Stephon Gilmore and Yannick Ngakoue in order to chase a championship window with a 37-year-old Ryan.

That mindset also led the Colts to sign Foles, with his 56 starts and a Super Bowl MVP trophy, to the backup spot. That move signaled to Ehlinger that it was time to take the long view.

"If I want to play in this league for 15 years, I should spend, really, the first three learning," Ehlinger said after the second preseason game.

At the request of Colts general manager Chris Ballard, Ehlinger started working this offseason with Tom House, a renowned throwing coach who has helped Tom Brady, Drew Brees and Andrew Luck take their games to new levels.

With Ehlinger, the work started at a more basic physical level.

"There’s a lot of things, starting with my shoulder and the way that it’s shaped, the muscles that are dominating," Ehlinger said. "That’s just from a functional, fitness, working on the muscular stuff, and then from the biomechanical signature, working on timing. The sequencing of when you want to throw, all the way from the ground up, so working on all of those things, and then working on mechanical variables within that signature. There’s been a lot that’s gone into it.”

If the Colts keep Ehlinger, it'll be through the prism of that long view. It'd mean reserving a roster spot for a player who isn't supposed to play for two years.

He's done just enough this offseason to pose the question.

"That’s the decision that we’ll have to make here in the next 24-48 hours," Reich said.

Contact Colts insider Nate Atkins at natkins@indystar.com. Follow him on Twitter @NateAtkins_.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Colts: Sam Ehlinger did 'everything he's needed to do' to make roster