Cue the SpongeBob meme in which he is holding a paper clip and a string because that is just about all the Indianapolis Colts sound like they will be getting in return for Anthony Richardson if they can find a trade partner. Gone are the days of the Vikings being rumored to offer four first-round picks to trade up in the draft. Gone are the white hot rumors of teams lining up for his services when he first requested a trade. The market is stone cold, and the Colts have no one to blame but themselves.
Richardson wasn’t ready for the NFL, or at least not right away. His collegiate experience was far from robust. Less than 400 passing attempts and a slew of injuries including one in which he was dancing at the team hotel was the first set of red flags in an ominous football odyssey. The whole idea was that he was a raw talent. His incredible RAS looked good on paper and even in person, but it didn’t mean it would translate to the NFL immediately. Richardson should have been eased in, with an old hat veteran to guide him, but he was thrust into action immediately.
Look, I get it. When you get a new toy, you want to play with it immediately. Richardson was shiny and had all the physical traits and looks of an NFL quarterback, but where were Chris Ballard and Shane Steichen to pull back on the reins? Why not retain Matt Ryan to be a mentor? Gardner Minshew was more competition than assistant and was young and relatively inexperienced himself. Ryan had a wealth of knowledge and would have posed no threat while teaching Richardson how to be a professional.
So, of course he struggled. The injuries are one thing, but when he was deployed, how he was used, and how little time he got have made his trade value close to nothing. When his maturity came into question, he was benched immediately. He is one of the most inaccurate quarterbacks ever. Instead of working through that, the Colts replaced him. It’s a tough league but the Colts provided a rough environment to grow and an unyielding hand to develop Richardson. The quarterback they produced and displayed was well below standards. Expecting there to be a trade market is ridiculous.
Every coin has two sides. Anthony Richardson is not without blame but to put all of that on a 22-year old is tough. The Colts organization could have done a much better job at preparing him for life in the NFL and easing him in. Would things be drastically different? Maybe, maybe not, but we would have a better understanding and acceptance of the situation. The Colts barely know what they have because they didn’t give him much of a chance while at the same time, providing the league with enough data to know to stay away.
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