WESTFIELD, Ind. – Both Daniel Jones and Anthony Richardson will “play a good amount” in the Colts’ preseason opener on Thursday against the Baltimore Ravens at M&T Bank Stadium, head coach Shane Steichen said Sunday.
Steichen, as of Sunday morning, had not informed his quarterbacks who will start. But whoever does not start will likely see significant time in the Colts’ second preseason game against the Green Bay Packers, which kicks off at 1 p.m. ET on Aug. 16 at Lucas Oil Stadium.
“One will play a good amount this game and the other will play a good amount next game,” Steichen said.
The Colts, throughout training camp, have been intentional about not just getting an even 50/50 split of first-team reps between Jones and Richardson, but getting them equal first-team reps in certain situations (i.e. red zone, third down, two minute). That’s harder to do within a single game, so splitting snap shares between two preseason contests makes sense here.
Steichen has consistently said there’s no timetable on naming a starting quarterback, and the Colts will let their process play out as they evaluate Jones and Richardson. The next three weeks will feature several key evaluation points, though, with a joint practice with the Ravens (Aug. 5), a preseason game against the Ravens (Aug. 7), a joint practice with the Green Bay Packers (Aug. 14), a preseason game against the Packers (Aug. 16) and a preseason game against the Cincinnati Bengals (Aug. 23) all on the calendar ahead.
Steichen, though, didn’t want that string of high-profile days to minimize everything else that’ll go into deciding which guy starts Sept. 7 against the Miami Dolphins at Lucas Oil Stadium.
“I think it all matters, it all counts,” Steichen said. “Every rep matters, every walkthrough matters, every meeting matters. It all matters. Everything’s being evaluated.”