INDIANAPOLIS \u2014 This is what failure looks like.<\/p>\n
The plan the Indianapolis Colts had for Anthony Richardson, the one designed to turn the athletic marvel with just 13 college starts to his name into an NFL franchise quarterback, has been thrown in the trash. The Colts don\u2019t appear to care about Richardson\u2019s future enough to consider sacrificing the present. The player they drafted with the No. 4 pick in 2023 is now the backup after officially losing his starting job to Daniel Jones<\/a> on Tuesday.<\/p>\n The decision to move on from Richardson is justifiable<\/a>. His supremely disappointing first two years in the NFL haven\u2019t convinced anyone he\u2019s capable of blossoming into a franchise quarterback. But to consider Jones, who\u2019s 20 games under .500 as a starter in his career (24-44-1), a better option than Richardson \u2014 the franchise\u2019s highest-drafted player since Andrew Luck \u2014 is not just an indictment on the young passer. It\u2019s also an indictment of everyone who brought him to Indianapolis in the first place.<\/p>\n The Colts knew Richardson was a project, yet their blueprint was flawed from the start. Colts general manager Chris Ballard has said so himself, repeatedly.<\/p>\n It started in December, when Ballard told<\/a> former The Athletic columnist Jim Trotter, \u201cI wish we hadn\u2019t played (Richardson) as a rookie.\u201d It continued into the offseason when the GM conceded to our Zak Keefer that he caved to the pressure<\/a> to play him in 2023, despite his better judgment.<\/p>\n The solution, of course, was to simply start Richardson again in 2024. But by Week 9, he was benched in favor of then-39-year-old Joe Flacco. \u201cHe was drowning,\u201d Ballard later said of Richardson. That demotion, just days after Richardson\u2019s infamous tap out, was supposed to last for the rest of the season. It was supposed to be a hard reset for Richardson to truly grasp the magnitude of what it means to be QB1. That is, until Flacco played poorly, the Colts lost two straight games and coach Shane Steichen \u2014 the one person who\u2019s had the final say on every QB decision the franchise has made over the past three years \u2014 got desperate. Desperate enough to put Richardson back in the lineup. So much for taking things slow, right? So much for learning what it takes to be a starter. So much for having a plan.<\/p>\n Funny enough, amid the Colts\u2019 flip-flopping on Richardson\u2019s role, when he came back from his first benching last year, he delivered the best game of his career in a dramatic road win over the New York Jets. That euphoria was short-lived, though, as Richardson missed the last two games of the season with back spasms and is now being told, yet again, that the bench is the best place for his development.<\/p>\n How long will this benching-for-his-own-good last, do you think? The answer probably has less to do with Richardson and what\u2019s best for him and more to do with whether Jones flops.<\/p>\n But, fine. Let\u2019s say the bench is the best method for Richardson\u2019s growth: Why didn\u2019t the Colts think of that before? I mean, who would have thought the then-21-year-old, who was drafted before he could legally drink and had only 394 career pass attempts at Florida, wouldn\u2019t have been ready to play Week 1 of his rookie season? Sure, hindsight is 20\/20, but shouldn\u2019t the Colts, after years of scouting Richardson, have seen this coming? Shouldn\u2019t they have suspected, after watching his habits up close for the four-plus months after they drafted him, that something might be amiss?<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s worked,\u201d Steichen said the day he announced Richardson as QB1 in August 2023. \u201cHe\u2019s worked his tail off in the building learning the playbook, learning the system.\u201d<\/p>\n Apparently he didn\u2019t work hard enough, because 14 months later, Steichen benched Richardson for what he described as a lack of proper game preparation.<\/p>\n \u201cI think he needs to just keep developing and growing as a professional,\u201d Steichen said in October 2024. \u201cObviously \u2026 the details. All those little things.\u201d<\/p>\n Ballard echoed Steichen\u2019s sentiments at the end of the 2024 season, claiming Richardson\u2019s benching was a crucial part of his development. Asked why it took such a drastic measure to finally get through to Richardson, the GM compared the team\u2019s directives for Richardson to focus more on his job to a parent\u2019s directives for their children to clean their room.<\/p>\n \u201cThey don\u2019t do it,\u201d Ballard said.<\/p>\n But Richardson isn\u2019t a child, as Ballard noted. He\u2019s a grown man who inked a nearly $34 million fully guaranteed contract to be the face of an NFL franchise. Considering that investment, personally and financially, who let him cut corners? Who let a poor work ethic slide?<\/p>\n To be clear, the majority of the blame for Richardson\u2019s lack of development falls at his feet. Those flaws are his flaws. He\u2019s the one who subbed out of a game because he was \u201ctired\u201d and was subsequently benched for two weeks because he wasn\u2019t preparing properly. He\u2019s the one whose inability to consistently make simple throws resulted in a league-low 47.7 completion percentage last year. He\u2019s the one who recently acknowledged his low cadence forced the offensive line to ask him to speak louder so they could minimize their pre-snap penalties.<\/p>\n But failure rarely belongs solely to one person \u2014 especially failure of this magnitude.<\/p>\n So the notion that Richardson\u2019s struggles are all on him is not valid. Save for Ballard, however, the Colts sure are making it seem that way. Asked Tuesday what he could have done differently as a coach to help Richardson properly develop, Steichen pointed to the injuries that have caused Richardson to miss 17 games through his first two years.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you\u2019re not practicing and playing, it\u2019s hard to go out there and do the things you want to do,\u201d Steichen said.<\/p>\n That didn\u2019t answer the question.<\/p>\n Steichen, known as the QB guru who helped unlock Jalen Hurts\u2019 potential in Philly, was asked again Thursday what he could have done differently to help Richardson. Again, the coach who staunchly advocated for the Colts to draft Richardson hardly seemed to acknowledge his responsibility for the young passer\u2019s shortcomings.<\/p>\n \u201cWell, I think you look back in those situations, like I said, I mentioned the injuries, but again, meeting with him. Met a lot with him during those injuries,\u201d Steichen said. \u201cJust, obviously from a mental standpoint, staying in it, and I think he did a good job with that. He\u2019s continued to improve with that. So, those things in the classroom, continue to develop that, and I think that\u2019s just an ongoing process is what we\u2019re going through.\u201d<\/p>\n If that response doesn\u2019t make any sense to you, you\u2019re not the only one. Word salad is never filling, but for some reason, Steichen continues to serve it when pressed on the most important position within the franchise. It\u2019s notable, by the way, that Richardson must constantly, and often candidly, answer for his failures when Steichen, who made him one of the youngest starting QBs in the NFL, chooses to deflect.<\/p>\n But then, this is the same coach who, last year, said Richardson was \u201creally sore\u201d before he was ruled out of a must-win road game against the New York Giants because of back and foot injuries. Richardson was publicly shamed for not toughening up and making himself available for his team\u2019s playoff hopes, only for the quarterback to reveal days later that he could \u201cbarely even walk\u201d due to severe back spasms. That\u2019s a lot different from \u201creally sore,\u201d right?<\/p>\n Steichen is also the same coach who said (1) \u201cI can\u2019t predict the future,\u201d when asked if Richardson would ever start again after his first benching; (2) Flacco \u201cwill be our guy going forward\u201d through the end of the 2024 season; and (3) finally, after benching Flacco and reversing course, Richardson is \u201cgoing to be our franchise quarterback\u201d when he put Richardson back in the lineup. The time between those three widely different statements? A grand total of 14 days.<\/p>\n \u201cI think whoever\u2019s out there gives us the best chance to win,\u201d Steichen said after re-announcing Richardson as QB1 in November 2024. \u201cI\u2019m going to give strength to every player on our football team \u2014 that whoever\u2019s out there is going to give us the best chance.\u201d<\/p>\n Aside from Steichen, the person who works most closely with Richardson is Colts QBs coach Cam Turner. His job, as Turner explained, is geared toward the \u201cday-to-day development\u201d of the quarterbacks. So why, under Turner\u2019s tutelage, hasn\u2019t Richardson developed? Or, at least, why hasn\u2019t he developed enough to beat out Jones, who was jettisoned from New York just two years after leading the Giants to the playoffs?<\/p>\n \u201cI feel like I\u2019ve tried everything I can do, and I feel like he\u2019s giving great effort in that aspect, too,\u201d Turner said. \u201cI don\u2019t think, either way, it\u2019s one or the other (at fault). I just think right now the consistency is not where we wanted to be.\u201d<\/p>\n There\u2019s some irony in the Colts asking Richardson to be consistent when they haven\u2019t been consistent themselves. He\u2019s raw and needs reps, they said. That\u2019s why he needs to start. No, actually, he\u2019s too naive and must learn to be a pro, they said. That\u2019s why he must sit.<\/p>\n Start. Sit. Start. Sit.<\/p>\n