In his seventh season as the Indianapolis Colts’ center, Ryan Kelly is about to experience his seventh quarterback change.

The former Alabama All-American seems to have had his fill of it, too.

“Everybody’s got their own opinions about it,” Kelly said. “I’m not going to get into mine. But, certainly, I think everybody’s a little bit surprised, so it is what it is.”

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On Monday, Colts coach Frank Reich announced Sam Ehlinger would replace Matt Ryan at quarterback for Sunday’s game against the Washington Commanders.

Ryan sustained a shoulder injury in Indianapolis’ 19-10 loss to the Tennessee Titans last week, although Reich acknowledged Ryan probably would have found a way to play against Washington if given the opportunity. After all, in his 14 previous seasons with the Atlanta Falcons, Ryan failed to answer the bell in only three games – two in 2009 and one in 2019.

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When Kelly joined Indianapolis as a first-round choice from Alabama in the 2016 NFL Draft, Andrew Luck was in his fifth season as the Colts’ QB.

The next year, Luck sustained a shoulder injury that sidelined him for the entire season, and his backup, Jacoby Brissett, took over for 2017.

Luck returned in 2018, then abruptly retired in the 2019 preseason to turn the spot back over to Brissett.

For the past three offseasons, the Colts filled their quarterback slot with an established starter.

Former Athens High School star Philip Rivers came aboard in free agency in 2020 after 16 seasons with the San Diego/Los Angeles Chargers.

After Rivers retired, a trade brought in Carson Wentz for 2021 after he’d played five seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles. The Colts traded Wentz to Washington in March after he didn’t work out as well as Rivers, who passed for 4,169 yards in an 11-5 season that got Indianapolis into the playoffs.

Five days after trading Wentz, the Colts acquired Ryan from the Falcons for a third-round draft choice.

Now Kelly will be snapping to Ehlinger in what’s being presented as a permanent change, even though Ryan is a former NFL MVP and Ehlinger has never thrown a pass in an NFL regular-season game.

“I have no choice but to get close to these guys,” Kelly said. “Locker’s next to them. It’s been the case ever since I got here, so, yeah, that sucks. Sucks big time.

“But it’s Week 8, man. I mean, the NFL freaking flies by, so, you know, if you sit and console and if you want to just (drop) your head and throw in the white flag, then you can certainly do that. But we’re going play the game no matter what.”

As the Colts compiled a 3-3-1 record, Ryan completed 203-of-297 passes for 2,008 yards with nine touchdowns and nine interceptions. Ryan leads the NFL in interceptions, and he’s also fumbled a league-leading 11 times.

“This is a point that needs to be made crystal clear, and I told this to Matt,” Reich said. “I said, ‘Matt, we did not hold up our end of the bargain. You came here and we promised you a top NFL rushing game, and we promised you great protection. And we haven’t as an offense delivered on that. And that starts with me.’ That was basically my message to Matt.

“We thought the marriage of Matt Ryan and his history with our running game — he’s had 14 years of incredibly productive quarterback play with great play-action — so we thought there was going to be a natural marriage there.

“Given our crazy quarterback scenarios over the last five years, it wasn’t a move of desperation. It was a well-thought-out (decision).”

In naming Ehlinger to replace Ryan, Reich bypassed veteran backup Nick Foles for the quarterback who has been third on the depth chart for most of the season.

Indianapolis has a monetary reason to bench Ryan, too, if the Colts have decided he won’t be the quarterback in 2023. Ryan is scheduled to count $35.206 million on Indianapolis’ salary cap next season. Releasing Ryan would slice that number to $18 million, but if the quarterback gets hurt badly enough this season that he can’t pass a physical exam by March 17, Indianapolis would have to pay him $17.206 million. Ryan’s contract contains a $10 million roster bonus and $7.206 million in salary that are injury guaranteed, so if he gets hurt, he gets paid.

The Colts and Commanders are scheduled to square off at 3:25 p.m. CDT Sunday at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.