It goes without saying that this is a critical year for Colts incumbent 3rd- year starting quarterback Anthony Richardson…
According to NFL.com’s Nick Shook, Indianapolis Colts soon-to-be 3rd-year quarterback Anthony Richardson is among his league ‘make-or-break candidates’ facing a career crossroads ahead of the upcoming 2025 campaign:
Anthony Richardson
Indianapolis Colts · QB
A quick rehash of the Richardson career arc leaves us with two main themes: He’s an incredibly gifted athlete with sky-high potential, and he’s also lacked the consistency to hold down the Colts’ starting job. Indianapolis’ patience ran thin with Richardson in 2024, so the team added competition for him this offseason with the signing of Daniel Jones. As the fourth overall pick of the 2023 draft, Richardson was an expensive investment. Such investments don’t guarantee long leashes, though, which Richardson has already learned. We’ll see if the pressure has inspired improvement, or if Richardson will be usurped by another former first-rounder in Jones.
Richardson had an initial promising start to his pro career during the 2023 season (where he showcased his tantalizing dual-threat ability), before he was limited to just 4 starts, as he was eventually shut down due to a season-ending shoulder injury.
Last season, Richardson largely endured a sophomore slump during his 11 starts.
His initial lack of consistency and professionalism in Year 2—with the boiling over point being his infamous in-game tap-out during an Week 8 road game against the rival Houston Texans, led to a two-game near midseason benching.
To his credit, Richardson ‘picked up the pace’ down the season’s final stretch—both on and off the field, leading a few late game winning drives in the process—albeit against some of the NFL’s weaker opponents. He did miss the team’s final two starts because of injury.
First and foremost, Richardson, as the Colts incumbent, has to beat out top challenger, Daniel Jones, for the Indy starting quarterback job, in what’s been publicly stated as an open offseason competition from the team’s top brass.
However, looking even further, Richardson has to demonstrate the required consistency and accuracy improvements (having completed just 47.7% of his passes last season) to show the Colts that he’s made the significant strides to continue to be their franchise quarterback hopefully going well beyond the 2025 season.
He also has to stay consistently healthy, which is something he hasn’t done to-date—having missed 19 starts over the past two seasons.
There’s also a professionalism component to it too where he has to be the CEO of the W. 56th headquarters and locker room—playing the team’s most important leadership position.
The Colts general manager and head coaching pairing of general manager Chris Ballard and head coach Shane Steichen is currently on the hot seat a bit, so significant growth and improvement from Richardson could save some jobs, or continued shortcomings could very well lead to Indianapolis completely cleaning house following the 2025 season—the former 4th overall pick of the 2023 NFL Draft among the key casualties.