Earlier this season, fans and analysts alike were shocked when Daniel Jones won out the Indianapolis Colts’ QB battle over Anthony Richardson, the team’s No. 1 draft pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, with the fourth overall selection. Yet that decision seemingly was the right one, as Jones — who previously had never been anything but mediocre — began playing like an elite quarterback.
Still, all was seemingly not lost for Richardson. Head coach Shane Steichen insisted that he was just one play away from a comeback, and that remained the party line… until Richardson suffered a freak injury during training, shattering his orbital bone and just narrowly missing being blinded.
The entire situation got even worse when Jones himself got injured, and the Colts were forced to bring Philip Rivers out of retirement; while Richardson is back to practicing, he evidently still has some vision issues, and isn’t likely to play again for the rest of this season.
Could the Colts actually be thinking about a future without Anthony Richardson?
And while Rivers is not a long-term solution for the Colts, the assumption — for now — is that Jones is still Indy’s franchise QB. So where does that leave Richardson?
There have been trade rumors about Richardson for months, and they’ve only grown louder as the season has continued. And according to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler, Richardson himself is open to a trade, although the best-case scenario would likely be for him to return as the Colts’ QB1 and, like Jones, overcome a difficult past to become a good quarterback.
Numerous teams have reportedly expressed interest in Richardson or are proposed as good trade candidates, including the reigning Super Bowl-champion Philadelphia Eagles, and it’s not hard to see why; Richardson has had some issues, but he’s still a freak athlete with an insane arm and elite-level mobility.
It wouldn’t be crazy for another coach to feel like they may be able to tap into Richardson’s potential, where the Colts couldn’t.
In the long run, this could end up working out well for Richardson; if he were to go to another team and thrive, he would be vindicated. But there is always the concern that the problem is, in fact, Richardson himself and not the Colts. (They can’t all be Daniel Jones post-Giants, right?)
However, even if it does end up as a good career move eventually, there’s no denying that right now, being traded would sting. Richardson was drafted with the intention that he would be the future of this franchise, and with every passing week, that seems less and less likely to happen.