The 2025 NFL Combine kicks off this upcoming week. So let’s preview the event through the Indianapolis Colts’ lens and take a look at the quarterback position.
For a deeper dive into the combine specifically and what you need to know from the Colts’ perspective, click here.
To preview other position groups, follow the links below:
What’s the need for the Colts at quarterback?
What we know is that GM Chris Ballard wants to add competition for Anthony Richardson this offseason. However, what we don’t know, is how Ballard will go about doing that. Will it be through free agency or through the draft?
“We knew when we took him it was going to be a roller coaster,” Ballard said of Richardson. “The number one thing we have to figure out and have to work through is he’s got to stay healthy. That, to me, is the biggest question.
“We have to have competition at the position because competition makes you better and because he’s not proven he can stay healthy for 17 games.”
The difficult part of attempting to add competition through the draft is that seems like a difficult needle to thread. In order to add true competition, an early round pick likely has to be utilized. Once you start getting into Day 3 of the draft, there’s no guarantee that the rookie quarterback can provide the competition that the Colts are hoping to find.
But with so many other positional needs to address, are the Colts willing to spend a high-end draft pick on a quarterback? And if they do, another wrinkle here is that they’ll have two quarterbacks playing on rookie deals, which obviously, timeline-wise, doesn’t align.
In addition to needing competition, the Colts need pure depth here as well with Joe Flacco and Sam Ehlinger free agents, so perhaps we see a late round pick to provide that. But my guess is the competition element at this position comes via free agency.
What does the Colts current quarterback depth chart look like?
Anthony Richardson
Jason Bean
Relative Athletic Scores of past quarterback draft picks for Colts
The RAS formula–which was created by Kent Lee Platte–takes all of the measurements from the NFL Combine and Pro Days and converts them into an easily comparable figure that ranges from 0 to 10. On the RAS scale, 5.0 is considered average, with 8.0 or higher being in the top 20 percentile of the position group from an athleticism standpoint. The higher the RAS, the better the athlete.
Anthony Richardson: 10.00
Sam Ehlinger: 6.79
Jacob Eason: 3.44
Which quarterbacks were invited to the NFL combine?
Max Brosmer, Minnesota
Brady Cook, Missouri
Jaxson Dart, Mississippi
Quinn Ewers, Texas
Dillon Gabriel, Oregon
Seth Henigan, Memphis
Will Howard, Ohio State
Riley Leonard, Notre Dame
Kyle McCord, Syracuse
Graham Mertz, Florida
Jalen Milroe, Alabama
Kurtis Rourke, Indiana
Shedeur Sanders, Colorado
Tyler Shough, Louisville
Cam Ward, Miami