Texas Football: What Sam Ehlinger’s contract with the Colts is worth

The deepest draft class that the Texas football program sent off to the NFL in more than three years happened this offseason. Texas had five former players drafted in the 2021 class. That included two day-two picks. Those two day-two picks among Texas Exes were edge rusher Joseph Ossai to the Cincinnati Bengals 69th overall in the third and offensive tackle Samuel Cosmi to the Washington Football Team 51st overall in the second round.

While it was nice to see the likes of Ossai and Cosmi end the drought of day two draft picks among former Longhorns, a lot of attention was paid to another selection. On day three of the draft, the Indianapolis Colts picked up the former Texas star quarterback Sam Ehlinger in the sixth round.

The Colts drafted Ehlinger to bolster their quarterback room alongside the likes of former Philadelphia Eagles signal caller Carson Wentz and former Georgia Bulldog/Washington Husky Jacob Eason. Ehlinger might not challenge for backup reps right away, but it should only be a matter of time before he can.

A looming question surrounding the Colts drafting of Ehlinger this year was what the contract would look like, and what guaranteed money he could get. That would be a good indication of how much the Colts are willing to invest in Ehlinger in the near future.

Contract details for former Texas football QB Sam Ehlinger with the Colts

A report from Aaron Wilson on his Twitter timeline on the morning of May 20 gave the details that Ehlinger’s contract will be worth around a base value of $3.61 million. He is also due a $130.7K signing bonus and a max contract value of just shy of $3.9 million.

That is a decently sizable contract in terms of guaranteed money for a sixth-round draft pick like Ehlinger. This is also the first Texas Ex quarterback to actually be drafted into the NFL since Colt McCoy was picked up by the Cleveland Browns more than one decade ago.

Ehlinger was likely to be a day three pick in the 2021 draft, so it’s not surprising that a team like the Colts picked him up in the sixth round. He does bring a unique skill set and a plethora of proven experience to the table in Indy.

During his four years playing for Texas, Ehlinger registered nearly 11,500 passing yards, 94 passing touchdowns, 27 interceptions, nearly 2,000 rushing yards, and 33 rushing touchdowns. He broke numerous school, and some Big 12, records during his time in Austin.

Texas finished up last season with a record of 7-3 (5-3 Big 12) under the direction of former head coach Tom Herman. But the Longhorns now have a new head coach in Steve Sarkisian and are figuring out who the next starting quarterback will be in the wake of Ehlinger’s departure to the NFL.