It was recently reported that the Indianapolis Colts have given backup quarterback and 2023 first-round draft choice Anthony Richardson Sr. permission to seek a trade. 

It sounds like teams weren’t in a rush to acquire Richardson during the NFL Scouting Combine. 

On Monday, NFL insider Jason La Canfora of SportsBoom spoke with an unnamed general manager and a personnel executive about Richardson. La Canfora hinted that some clubs may wait to see if the Colts simply release Richardson at some point before the 2026 NFL Draft gets underway on April 23. 

Anthony Richardson Sr. “too much for a project” for certain NFL teams? 

“We’re not interested,” the general manager said about Richardson. “He’s too much for a project for us to take on right now. It’s not the right fit.”

According to La Canfora, the general manager added that “he thought maybe the Colts could get a fifth-round pick” for Richardson. 

From 2023 through the 2024 campaign, Richardson missed 17 regular-season games due to injuries. In the fall of 2024, he was temporarily benched after he took himself out a game because he was “tired.” He then lost a competition for the Indianapolis starting job to Daniel Jones last summer, and Richardson later suffered an orbital fracture during a pregame warmup in October. 

In short, there are multiple reasons teams may fear Richardson will never be a successful long-term starting quarterback at the highest level.

Are Colts to blame for why Anthony Richardson Sr. hasn’t become a first-choice QB1?

“I wouldn’t go down that road now,” the personnel executive said about possibly acquiring Richardson. “Too much injury risk. Look, if you really did your work on him at Florida, they were running five plays. It wasn’t a real offense, and the Colts haven’t done much to bring him along. Would I give them a [sixth-round draft pick], maybe a five, if I had a situation where I want to create some packages and get him on the field in certain situations? I could see that. But he would be a pass for me now as a starting option.” 

In December 2024, Colts general manager Chris Ballard acknowledged that he regretted that the club named Richardson its 2023 Week 1 starter. That decision seemingly did Richardson no favors, and he may now go down as one of the biggest draft busts in Colts history.