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The Indianapolis Colts are benching second-year quarterback Anthony Richardson and turning to Joe Flacco as their starter with Richardson struggling and coming off an unusual episode Sunday in which he asked to come out of the game for one play because he was tired.
Flacco is expected to start Sunday night at the Minnesota Vikings, a person familiar with the situation confirmed Tuesday.
Richardson is the second quarterback chosen in the first four picks of the 2023 NFL draft to be benched by his team this season. The Carolina Panthers benched Bryce Young, the top selection, in September, although Young regained the starting job last week after Andy Dalton suffered a sprained thumb in a car crash.
The Colts selected Richardson fourth, two spots after the Houston Texans chose quarterback C.J. Stroud. Stroud has become a standout for the Texans, but Young and Richardson have had issues.
Richardson has made six starts this season and is completing just 44.4 percent of his passes. He is the NFL’s 34th-rated passer, the lowest among qualifying quarterbacks. The 22-year-old completed just 10 of 32 passes in Sunday’s 23-20 loss at the Texans, which dropped the Colts to 4-4. He asked out of the game for one play, saying afterward that he told Coach Shane Steichen he was tired.
“Tired,” Richardson said during his postgame news conference. “I’m not going to lie. That was a lot of running right there that I did. And I didn’t think I was going to be able to go that next play. So I just told Shane I needed a break right there.”
Steichen said after the game that Richardson “needed a breather,” adding: “He ran three times in a row, and it was third and long. We were going to hand the ball off.” He said then that the Colts would “keep working through the process” with Richardson and would “get it figured out.”
But Monday, Steichen said the Colts were “evaluating everything,” including their starting quarterback. Richardson was the starter “right now today,” Steichen said, seemingly leaving open the possibility that was about to change.
“There’s a whole bunch of areas that we can improve on,” he said during his Monday news conference. “I’m not just talking about the quarterback. I’m talking about everything. And we’ve got to be better moving forward.”
Steichen said Monday that Sunday’s one-play episode with Richardson would not be a factor in the starting quarterback decision.
“We had a conversation about it this morning in the quarterback room, which I’ll keep private,” Steichen said Monday. “But obviously in those situations, he knows … you can’t take yourself out. And it’s a learning experience for him, and he’s got to grow from it.”
Colts center Ryan Kelly said Monday that he discussed the incident with Richardson.
“We had a conversation about it,” Kelly said at a separate news conference. “I think he knows that’s not the standard that he needs to play up to and the rest of the team holds him to. I’ll kind of leave the conversation that we had at that. But I’m sure he’s going to take some criticism for that. Just rightfully so, right? I mean, that’s a tough look. But also, he’s out there giving it all for his team, right? And it’s not all pretty sometimes. … He’s young. I’m sure it’s a learning moment for him.”
Richardson is just 10 starts into his NFL career. His rookie season was cut short by a shoulder injury.
“Welcome to being the number four pick, man,” Kelly said Monday. “That’s the life of the NFL and the quarterback. If you’re the starting quarterback for an NFL team, there’s a certain demand and standard that you’re held to.”
Richardson said Sunday that he felt he was making progress.
“I feel like I’m trusting my teammates more,” he said. “I’m trusting the game, letting the game come to me. I feel like I’m playing within the game, making plays and just doing what I’m supposed to do. But … at the end of the day, the execution has got to be better from both ends. That’s whether [it’s] from me delivering the ball to the wideouts and them catching it. … We know what we can do. We’ve just got to do it.”
He also called himself “a great passer,” adding: “I’m just a different quarterback from everybody else. So people are going to try to point out that I’m not as efficient as everybody else. But that’s cool to me. I run the ball way better than every other quarterback, probably not Lamar [Jackson], but [better] than most quarterbacks. … When I am delivering the ball, I feel good about it. And when I’m running it, I feel good about it as well.”
Flacco is set to make his third start of the season; the 39-year-old’s previous starts came while Richardson was injured. Flacco was the comeback player of the year last season after signing with the Cleveland Browns during the season and helping them to the playoffs. He signed with the Colts in the offseason and has thrown for seven touchdowns with one interception.
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Anthony Richardson should have been replaced simply because his passes are off target (difficult or impossible to catch) and he can’t reliably affect the snap. When he fumbles, he has tried, but failed, to pick up the ball, leading to a turnover to the other team. My recollection is that Richardson is 220 out of 224 QBs in completion percentage in the last 20+ years. Many of those 224 were rookie QBs too.
Not to mention, signaling his depleted physical state so publicly, with the head tap, he communicates information helpful to the opponent should he re-enter the game
He’s unready to play. Playing him now risks his permanent injury with little likelihood of victory. That is a poor short-term risk/reward proposition.
Play Flacco now, let Richardson develop through coaching. Make this a long-term victory instead of short-term, and possibly long-term, loss. Do the guy a favor and coach him to play in the NFL before ruining his career as the Colts are doing now.
The only time the Indianapolis Colts successfully developed a quarterback they drafted was when Bill Polian was running football operations with an iron fist.
Every other time, they’ve failed miserably. What makes you think they’re going to be able to do it this time?
Why do people think the Peyton Manning era is the norm, instead of a historical aberration?
This is probably the dumbest article the IBJ has ever regurgitated, which is saying something