Colts sign QBs Josh Freeman, Ryan Lindley

Josh Freeman to the rescue?

Ryan Lindley to the rescue?

The Indianapolis Colts, in dire need of adding depth to their depleted quarterback lineup, added two former NFL starters Tuesday, all but assuring Andrew Luck will not make his return to the lineup Sunday when the Colts close the regular season at home against the Tennessee Titans.

The team signed Josh Freeman, a former first-round pick of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and Ryan Lindley, who started a playoff game for the Arizona Cardinals last January and last spent time with the New England Patriots during training camp.

That means the Colts now have three healthy quarterbacks on their roster — Freeman, Lindley and Stephen Morris, signed last week off the Eagles' practice squad — and two more who are nursing injuries. Luck still is not cleared to return after lacerating his kidney in early November; Matt Hasselbeck, who suffered a Grade 1 shoulder separation (the least serious such injury) in Sunday's win in Miami, is doubtful to return this week.

In all likelihood, the decision of whom to start at quarterback Sunday will come down to either Morris, Freeman or Lindley, three players who haven't even spent a full week with the Colts.

Yes, that's how bad it's gotten this season

The Colts placed backup Charlie Whitehurst on injured reserve Monday. With the signing of Freeman and Lindley, that means the Colts have had ten different quarterbacks on the active roster or practice squad this season: Luck, Hasselbeck, Whitehurst, Morris, Freeman, Lindley, Alex Tanney, Josh Johnson, Matt Blanchard and Bryan Bennett.

On Monday, Colts coach Chuck Pagano was asked whether Freeman, who worked out for the team recently, could start Sunday: “I don’t know. We’ll see how the week goes. If we go down that road, we’ll have to prepare both guys obviously. Decide who gets the lion’s share of the reps and then I’ll be able to give you more information, because we haven’t done anything to this point, so I can’t give you a logical answer yet.”

Freeman, a former first-round pick of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, has started 60 games in his career and completed 1,164-of-2,020 (57.6 percent) passes for 13,724 yards with 80 touchdowns and 67 interceptions for a passer rating of 77.8. He also has recorded 922 rushing yards on 197 attempts.

Freeman led Tampa Bay to a 10-6 record in his second season, completing 61.4 percent of his passes for 3,451 yards with 25 touchdowns and 6 interceptions. But he threw just 16 touchdowns with 22 interceptions as Tampa Bay fell to 4-11 in 2011. He was cut in 2013.

Freeman most recently played for the Brooklyn Bolts of the Fall Experimental Football League (FXFL) in 2015. He spent most of the 2015 offseason and all of training camp with the Miami Dolphins before being waived during final cuts Sept. 5.

Lindley has seen action in nine career NFL games (six starts) and completed 134-of-264 (50.7 percent) passes for 1,314 yards with two touchdowns and 11 interceptions.

The Colts also promoted linebacker Amarlo Herrera to the active roster from the practice squad, signed guard Kitt O'Brien to the practice squad and placed Josh McNary on injured reserve.

Call Star reporter Zak Keefer at (317) 444-6134 and follow him on Twitter: @zkeefer.