When Chris Ballard put his Colts General Manager job on the line that Anthony Richardson would be the Colts’ future franchise quarterback, he probably expected his biggest obstacle was his limited playing time in college or his inaccuracy as a thrower. He probably didn’t want that list to grow early in his NFL career by missing half of his starts across his first couple of seasons.
The hope of Ballard and Colts fans alike when he was taken with the 4th overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft was that he gets as much playing time and experience as possible over his first couple of seasons so that by the end of his rookie contract we could see the ceiling of a Cam Newton-esque player. What ended up happening was only 4 starts(only one of which he played 100% of snaps) in his rookie season, and then an up-and-down sophomore campaign where he got injured again.
Not only did he get hurt, but he ended up being benched due to work ethic questions and concerns from within the building. With this latest development on Richardson once again being hurt and “hopeful” to participate in training camp, it begs the question of what the future of the QB position of the Colts franchise looks like.
#Colts HC Shane Steichen says he hopes QB Anthony Richardson can come back “at some point” during training camp. No timeline.
— James Boyd (@RomeovilleKid) June 5, 2025
Anthony Richardson; The Good, The Bad, and The Hurt
As I said before, the hope and absolute(while unlikely) ceiling for Richardson as a Quarterback was Cam Newton. Some even compared him to Josh Allen, another QB who early in his career has issues with completing over 50% of their passes. When you watch him practice and play you see glimpses in almost every game that show he can be such a player.
Anthony Richardson’s closest recent athletic comp is former NFL MVP Cam Newton. Richardson is slightly smaller, but is significantly faster and more explosive. #RAS #Colts pic.twitter.com/xT9uZ3VVzK
— RAS.football (@MathBomb) April 28, 2023
We all know the games where we saw him shine. The Rams his rookie season, week 1 this past year, the Jets game, the Patriots game. There have been a number of times that he has willed this team himself to win football games. When you see someone make a throw like he made to Alec Pierce against Houston last year, you see why you take such a risk on him. He can make throws only a handful others in the NFL can.
Oh wow. Anthony Richardson with a 60-yard bomb to Alec Pierce 🚀🚀🚀 pic.twitter.com/nLmFlboJxF
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) September 8, 2024
The issue is that he can’t complete passes that most other quarterbacks in the NFL can, along with his consistency. He started off that Houson game strong with that first quarter bomb touchdown to Pierce, but he ended that game completing only 9 of his 19 passes. Granted a few of those were drops from his recievers but he followed this up in week 2 completing only half his pass attempts(17 of 34).
Over the last 20 years, there have been 630 QBs to throw at least 250 passes in a season.
Anthony Richardson’s completion percentage of 47.7% last year ranks 629th, ahead of only 2011 Tim Tebow.
— Andrew Cooper (@CoopAFiasco) May 15, 2025
Not only are these issues prevelant in almost every game, but his infamous “tap-out” at Houston led to him being benched for two games. During this time, questions and rumors arose about his work ethic in practices. From what I have personally heard, I do believe there were issues that needed to be handled, and this benching did help, as he has been much more serious on his work ever since. While many will not like this happened at all, we do have to remember he is still only 23, and had never really been taught on his duty being a starting NFL quarterback.
#Colts QB Anthony Richardson on taking himself out of the game in the 3rd quarter: “Tired, I ain’t gonna lie. That was a lot of running right there that I did … So, I just told Shane (Steichen) I needed a break right there.”
(🎥 @WISHNews8)pic.twitter.com/5DiUalDXDU
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) October 27, 2024
Now time for the most painful section. If there was one thing a majority of fans wish, is that injuries never happened. We all have seen careers in multiple sports get cut short due to injuries, and very close to home for Colts fans with a certain other quarterback. In reality, though, some players get the injury bug more than others. Anthony Richardson so far his career has been hurt almost just as much as he has been healthy.
This offseason, Daniel Jones had similar offers from the #Vikings and #Colts, but chose Indianapolis because he saw a clearer path to a starting role.
Anthony Richardson has missed 17 of a possible 34 games in two seasons — and this is now his latest setback. https://t.co/f6m9uxbegF pic.twitter.com/nb9SyuUrqr
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) June 5, 2025
Unfortunately, a few of these injuries were just a bad luck football play that happened. For instance, his season-ending shoulder injury in his rookie season was just a routine tackle that likely 90 out of 100 times, he didn’t get injured on that play. But, he did, and now that same shoulder is once again injured which makes this news even more scary for his future with the Colts. His playing style also doesn’t favor a long playing career. To keep the Cam Newton comparisons going, we saw Cam burn bright for his rookie contract, and after the Super Bowl season, his stats kept declining. With just how brutal Anthony Richardson runs into contact with the defenders, unless he changes, he’s likely to miss games every year playing like this.
All four of #Colts QB Anthony Richardson’s NFL injuries were on runs. Three of them were designed.
• Bruised left knee in Week 1 2023 (scramble)
• Concussion in Week 2 2023
• AC joint sprain in Week 5 2023
• Oblique/hip injury in Week 4 2024Gotta work on avoiding big hits. pic.twitter.com/pxtcl3HYGT
— James Boyd (@RomeovilleKid) October 1, 2024
Where Next?
Now if I’m being honest, I have questions about this franchise from the top down. Chris Ballard, in my opinion, is a good talent evaluator. There are so many good players on this roster that he has gotten from other teams, were Day 3 or even undrafted players. The issue, though, is that he has a weakness at landing the positions that matter most in the NFL right now. He’s drafted a lot of Day 1 and 2 defensive ends who have not gotten it done, we saw what happened at cornerback last season, and while they are indeed a talented bunch, the wide receiver room lacks that superstar talent needed to help out the inexperience Richardson had coming in. The biggest of these positions that haven’t turned out has been the quarterback position. Ever since Andrew Luck retired we have started (more than 1 game); Brissett, Rivers, Wentz, Ryan, Ehlinger, Foles, Minshew, Richardson, and Flacco. We saw some success with a few of those, but no playoff wins or division titles with that group.
Shane Steichen has been a good offensive play-caller in the NFL, we saw it with the Eagles and I personally thought he really shined when Minshew took over for the 2023 season. The biggest issue that he can’t seem to fix for me though has been how he talks with the media about some of his players. The most recent example is this most recent injury to Richardson, on him commenting that he “hopes” that Richardson can play “at some point” during training camp toward the end of July. When I see this I immediately think that if he isn’t ready, then it’s Daniel Jones’ job to lose. The next day it comes out from NFL insider Jeremy Fowler that Richardson expects to be “ready to go” for camp. He has done this multiple times on not being fully clear with the media about Richardson and his injuries which makes his players look worse to the public eye than what reality should be.
#Colts HC Shane Steichen on Anthony Richardson’s back: “I should’ve said spasms. …”
Has he put AR in bad spots by not explaining? “I like to keep a lot of things in house …”
Could his messaging through the media been better this year? “ … You go back and look at everything.” pic.twitter.com/5hCuGx2C8O
— James Boyd (@RomeovilleKid) December 29, 2024
The biggest question mark right now is about the quarterback position. Anthony Richardson was drafted 4th overall by this regime. They want him to succeed, but they also have to do what’s best for the team. While at the time it caused a fuss on social media, Daniel Jones signing this contract was for a reason. Ballard and Co. has not seen Richardson complete a full season, which he’s only actually completed 10 games in his career. They clearly valued Jones, and his similar play style to Richardson, by giving him $13.5 million guaranteed. Understandably, seeing Jones play toward the end of his run with the Giants caused fans to never want to see him, he has playoff experience and even a playoff win. What intrigues me though, is that Kevin O’Connell and the Vikings, who just had Sam Darnold for his resurgence, also wanted Jones to stay with the Vikings. Jones knowing both teams’ situations well, decided to go where there was a better chance of him getting a starting job. With Richardson now being out for the near future, it’s Jones’s chance to come in and take the reigns, the question is what happens when Richardson returns? I personally believe they will give Richardson one last shot, mainly because they almost have to, barring Richardson playing terribly to start the year.
In my opinion, the Colts and Ballard himself would be doing a disservice if they didn’t start a healthy Anthony Richardson this season. Not only would they be giving up on one of the most athletically gifted humans on this planet, but they would also essentially be firing themselves by admitting they were wrong and wasting another year of the Colts’ star players’ primes. While I believe Daniel Jones has the ability with this team to win 9 or 10 games and sneak into the playoffs, this is a franchise that has not won the division in over a decade. With new ownership(rest in peace Jim Irsay), they may look to start fresh next season outside of a playoff win or division title.
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