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For a franchise that has been stuck in its process as much as it has been stuck in the middle of the standings, there has been a refreshing amount of change for the Indianapolis Colts this offseason.
Normally hesitant to dip into the coffers for outside free agents, Colts General Manager Chris Ballard ditched his long-standing philosophy last month, handing out lucrative contracts to high-end targets on the market such as safety Camryn Bynum and former All-Pro cornerback Charvarius Ward. After spending last offseason retaining every key veteran, Ballard allowed Ryan Kelly, the longest-tenured Colt, to walk off to Minnesota along with fellow offensive lineman Will Fries, arguably the team’s best in-house free agent.
These are all new wrinkles aimed at reinvigorating a franchise that has been mired in the NFL’s middle for almost all of Ballard’s eight-year tenure and the entirety of head coach Shane Steichen’s two-year stint, but they pale in comparison to the Colts’ biggest announcement of the offseason—something the franchise hasn’t legitimately done in nearly 30 years: The Colts are holding a preseason competition at quarterback.
Anthony Richardson doesn’t turn 23 until the end of next month, but after giving $13 million in guarantees to former Giants quarterback Daniel Jones, the Colts have made it clear that the player they handed the keys to the franchise to two years ago will have to earn his spot in the driver’s seat for this season.
“Competition is a good thing at any position,” said Ballard, who originally declared the position an open battle at the NFL Combine in February, before signing Jones. “Over time, it’s been proven that to get better, you have to be able to press yourself each and every day for high performance. And you do that by having as many good players as you can at that position.”
That view on competition is a stark contrast to how Ballard and company have operated in the past. While a long-term quarterback solution has yet to be found for the franchise in the post-Andrew Luck era, the player who was going to start the Colts’ season under center was often known in the spring and seemingly predetermined each year. After Luck’s final two seasons, the Colts were forced to immediately hand the controls over to backup Jacoby Brissett in 2019 following The Retirement Heard Round The World. For the next three years (2020-2022), Ballard either paid or traded for outside signal-callers in the form of Phillip Rivers, Carson Wentz and Matt Ryan, who each entered that season as the clear starter.
Once Richardson was drafted in 2023, even with a veteran in Gardner Minshew alongside him, there was never a legitimate doubt that the No. 4 overall pick would be the starter as a rookie, a distinction Richardson was officially handed after the team’s first preseason game in August. A season-ending injury and the acquisition of another vet with starting chops in Joe Flacco last spring didn’t threaten the incumbent’s title, either, as Richardson’s place was unchallenged in Westfield.
Two disappointing and injury-plagued seasons later and with ownership frustration and fan malaise at its peak, that job security is over, placing Richardson in a prove-it-or-lose-it spot against a veteran young enough and capable enough to unseat him. It’s something no Colts quarterback has truly encountered in camp since before Peyton Manning was drafted late last century.
Jones, another player trying to stay out of the former Top 10 QB draft-pick graveyard, ultimately ousted Peyton’s brother in New York, taking the reins from the younger Manning before Week 3 of the 2019 season and starting all 69 of his appearances in six seasons with the Giants. However, after he earned a whopping $160 million payday following a smoke-and-mirrors-filled 2022 campaign, the Giants lost 13 of Jones’ last 16 starts over the next two disastrous seasons.
He might have produced middling results over a six-year tenure in New York, but Jones has been praised for his relentless preparation and day-to-day approach, a shortcoming that reportedly led to Richardson’s benching during the middle of last season.
That demotion sent the initial message to Richardson. This decision drives the Colts’ point home that they can’t wait around for the light bulb to turn on.
“After the season, we sat down [with Richardson], we talked, and we said we were going to look at bringing in some competition,” Shane Steichen said earlier this month at the NFL’s Annual League Meeting in Florida. “Obviously, when we signed [Daniel Jones], he knew it was coming.”
The ultimate hope might be that Jones merely pushes Richardson over the hump and into the player the Colts need him to be, but the 27-year-old washout would not have come to Indianapolis without a legitimate shot at kick-starting a second act to his career.
Like Richardson, the veteran is a constant threat with his legs but doesn’t have the jaw-dropping athleticism or the eye-popping deep throws in his bag. Although Jones’ ceiling is clearly lower than his counterpart’s, his floor is much higher, with a career completion percentage (64.1%) and interception percentage (2.1%) that are far more aligned with competent quarterback outputs than what Richardson has produced thus far.
Despite some late-game heroics against bad Jets and Patriots teams, Richardson’s sophomore season was unquestionably a disappointment. His receivers had the league’s highest drop rate (11.2%), and he wasn’t always put in the best position to succeed in a big-play-hunting offense (his 12.2 air yards per attempt were the highest in the league), but Richardson’s accuracy (47.7%) and passer rating (61.6%) last season—both significant drops from his four-game sample in 2023—were breathtakingly bad.
He did improve his accuracy post-benching, particularly with shorter and medium throws, but Richardson would have to make a substantial, even historic, statistical leap to spike the arrow from where it’s trending.
Moving forward, the plan appears to be for the two QB combatants to split the reps later this spring, however some fans are scoffing at the idea that this competition is genuinely up for grabs. Clearly, the embattled Ballard and enigmatic Steichen each have a tremendous amount invested in Richardson’s being on the field, and to be fair to those doubters, you usually have had to take what the Colts say about the quarterback position with an anvil-sized grain of salt.
Colts’ fan skepticism in this area stems all the way back to the handling of Andrew Luck’s injuries in his final few seasons, but there are more recent validations for that distrust. Just last season, the same brass howled for months that Richardson needed reps and experience, before abruptly benching the young quarterback in October.
At that time, Steichen claimed that 39-year-old Joe Flacco was more of a “win now” type option in defense of that decision, but the offense mustered just one non-garbage time touchdown in Flacco’s two games at the controls (both losses), including an embarrassing three-interception performance against Buffalo—which could have easily been five picks if the Bills had caught all the footballs errantly thrown their way—and he was forced to quickly reverse course.
The Colts have put themselves in position to have their plans doubted by this fan base because they’ve somewhat made it up as they’ve gone along at quarterback, but everything about this particular decision feels legitimate.
Winning right now, even if it comes without validation for pinning the franchise’s hopes on Richardson two years ago, has become the name of the game. Jim Irsay has mandated it—the Colts are currently in their longest playoff drought since the 1991-1994 seasons, and 23 franchises have won more playoff games than Indy over the last decade—and Ballard and Steichen are feeling it from above.
That’s because even though Richardson is the primary focus at the moment, he isn’t the only one whose job is in question. It’s true for Ballard, who owns a losing record over eight seasons and is six seasons removed from his last playoff win, making it a minor miracle that he still has a job at all. It’s true even for Steichen, a head coach only entering his third year, but one who is coming off a season where the majority of the buttons he pressed on the field, and words he uttered off of it, were the wrong ones.
That’s not to say the trio’s fate is tied together. If Richardson fails, but the Colts win with Jones, Ballard and Steichen likely stay. If Richardson fails, Jones fails, and they lose, it’s almost certainly over for everyone.
You can bring in another quarterback in hopes of pushing the one you have to be better, but in a general manager or head coach’s seat, well, those jobs can only fit one person at a time.
And, as this decision clearly signifies, both Ballard and Steichen understand what is at stake for their spots, too.•
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From Peyton Manning’s peak with the Colts to the Pacers’ most recent roster makeover, Schultz has talked about it all as a sports personality in Indianapolis for more than 15 years. Besides his written work with IBJ, he’s active in podcasting and show hosting. You can follow him on X @Schultz975.
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Still a 7-8 win team at best no matter who is the QB.
Drafting Richardson was an acceptable choice. The big mistake was, see below. He absolutely, should have been sitting the entire 1st season. No shoulder injury, learning better mechanics, getting stronger, learning how to be a pro. The “he needs reps” argument was completely erroneous.
“Once Richardson was drafted in 2023, even with a veteran in Gardner Minshew alongside him, there was never a legitimate doubt that the No. 4 overall pick would be the starter as a rookie, a distinction Richardson was officially handed after the team’s first preseason game in August.”