The Colts ‘QB competition’ is more about due diligence and insurance than it is actual competition for the starting job, though both can be true.
Colts general manager Chris Ballard seemingly created a narrative during the NFL Scouting Combine when he revealed to the media that the team will hold an ‘open competition’ regarding its starting quarterback for the 2025 season.
Third-year quarterback Anthony Richardson has been through the wringer during his first two seasons in the NFL, and some of the lows in question can be attributed to what he has or hasn’t done thus far in his career. Richardson hasn’t proved himself as both a leader and professional off-the-field, while his on-the-field shortcomings are centered around his inaccuracies as a passer and his durability to stay healthy.
This handful of deficiencies from Richardson led the Colts’ front office to emphasize bringing in competition to the quarterback room which has ultimately resulted in the signing of FA quarterback Daniel Jones.
Like Richardson, Daniel Jones is a former top-10 draft pick who has struggled to put it together throughout his career. Although his career has spanned an entire rookie contract’s worth (four seasons) longer than Richardson’s, Jones finds himself vying for a starting gig in Indianapolis.
Jones also presents a more hybrid style of quarterbacking thanks to his above-average rushing ability, though that has more or less been his downfall as an NFL quarterback. In six seasons, Jones has only thrown for 15+ passing touchdowns once — his rookie season — while totaling a career stat line of 14,582 passing yards, 70 passing touchdowns, and 47 interceptions. He’s also added 2,179 rushing yards with 15 rushing touchdowns and 15 fumbles with his legs.
When it comes to just how open this quarterback competition is, I’d venture into saying that it’s more so a motivation tactic that doubles as insurance. Anthony Richardson has not been good enough, nor healthy enough, to be handed the starting job, but he’s hardly been given to right his wrongs. Not to suggest that any of his shortcomings thus far should be defended, but Richardson is only halfway through his rookie contract.
While the Colts are unsure if Richardson is their future, bringing in a serviceable quarterback like Daniel Jones only reaffirms their notion of going all-in on the project they elected to take a chance on two draft cycles ago. Some may ask, then why spend ~$14M on a reclamation project of sorts like Jones?
On the surface, with how his career has gone thus far, Daniel Jones is a serviceable backup at worst that was signed for insurance purposes, which is extra valuable considering the durability concerns that surround Richardson at this point in his career. Not only that but this, as Chris Ballard and the Colts intend, should light a fire under Richardson and remind him that he’ll have to earn his stripes moving forward.
Make no mistake about it, Daniel Jones has been given a real opportunity to win the starting gig in Indianapolis. Anthony Richardson must prove himself, at the bare minimum, to be at least better than Jones if he wants to continue as the Colts’ quarterback of the future.
If Daniel Jones at all threatens his job, you learn right then and there that Anthony Richardson was never the answer. If that were to happen, then the project has failed and a new regime would likely come into the fray to try and clean up the mess that the Chris Ballard era has left behind. If it succeeds, however, then this regime would earn a fifth chance of sorts as the Colts would have their franchise quarterback of the future.
Richardson’s agent, Deiric Jackson, told NFL Network on Tuesday that the third-year quarterback currently is healthy after dealing with oblique and back injuries in 2024.
Jackson also told NFL Network that Richardson does not plan to seek a trade, adding that “AR will be ready to roll.”
This move offers motivation for their current project, insurance in case said project were to hit a setback health-wise during the season (history suggests it’ll be inevitable), while also adding a hungry, post-rookie contract quarterback to the fray that’ll hopefully enlighten Richardson to a reality where one day you’re the face of franchise and the next you’re signing a 1-year deal to compete with a third-year player.
The Colts’ plan isn’t to push Anthony Richardson out of town but rather to provide every resource necessary to tap into his potential. Chris Ballard, Shane Steichen, and this entire organization believe in Richardson, they’re just exerting all possible efforts in an attempt to speed up his maturity as a player both on and off the field. Perhaps it’s not fair of a halfway-out-the-door general manager to try and expedite his own faulty process from years past, but this is the bed the organization has made and now they must lie in it — for better or for worse.
