If the Colts don’t want Anthony Richardson, the Rams should take him

Sean McVay working with AR-15 would be a Rams dream come true

Anthony Richardson has come under fire this week for being a wild passer and a tired player, but if the Colts are having any doubts about their quarterback then the Rams should be the first team to pick up the phone next year.

If it seems blasphemous to think about looking for Matthew Stafford’s replacement, the reality of playing in the NFL is that teams must always be thinking about “Who could be next?”, and Richardson could be a good answer given that Sean McVay has exclusively worked with highly-drafted quarterbacks by other regimes: Jared Goff, Matthew Stafford, and Baker Mayfield.

All three are starting in the NFC, all three are Pro Bowl quarterbacks. Any time a quarterback with elite tools hits the market, McVay’s name should be the first to come to mind as a coach who could bring it out of him.

Needless to say, the Richardson experiment has been a disaster for the Colts since he was taken fourth overall in the 2023 NFL draft. The Florida product has struggled mightily with injuries, fatigue and accuracy. Being mentioned in the same breath as JaMarcus Russell is not a good sign.

Richardson is coming off his worst game as a pro, which is really saying something. Indianapolis head coach Shane Steichen is evaluating the team’s QB situation ahead of his team’s primetime matchup against the Vikings. If Steichen opts to bench his struggling young gunslinger, LA should at least consider trading for the 22-year-old to see if Sean McVay can work his magic once more.

McVay would have his work cut out for him since Richardson has been unable to put everything together or display any consistent signs of growth. The second-year passer has regressed as his 44.4% completion rate through eight games this season is 15 percentage points lower than it was his rookie year, according to ESPN Research.

Although, there is evidence proving his inaccuracies are not all on him when reviewing the tape from Sunday’s game against the Texans.

The physical gifts are clearly there and there might be (some) hope for the young passer. Josh Allen similarly came into the league as an extremely raw prospect and is about the same size as Richardson.

The knock on Richardson is inexperience as he only started 13 games in Gainesville compared to 26 for Allen at Wyoming, so the collegiate sample size is a tad skewed. Both were similar in completion percentage with Allen at 56.3% and Richardson at 54.7%. Quarterbacks don’t tend to see their accuracy improve dramatically in the NFL, but Allen is living proof that it’s possible after his completion percentage jumped 10.4 points between his second and third professional seasons.

As I said, there are some slivers of hope here and there for Richardson, but it might take him working with the right coaching staff to unlock his full potential. The Colts don’t seem to have the ability to properly develop AR5, and that has been a problem area for an organization without an adequate answer under center since Philip Rivers.

McVay has expressed a prior interest in working with a mobile quarterback which would be a significant change of pace given who he’s worked with in LA. Richardson remains a major work in progress, but if Stafford has more games in him as he had against Minnesota, there would be no need to rush the young gun into action. The biggest mistake Indy made was starting AR5 right away as a rookie without taking the Patrick Mahomes route and redshirting him for his rookie campaign while learning behind a veteran.

The Rams would be sure not to make that mistake if they managed to get Richardson into the fold. Yes, trading for a player like him is risky and otherwise problematic with other roster issues needing to be addressed. Those should take priority, but imagine what Sean McVay could do if he ever got his hands on a player like Richardson.

LA’s HC managed to give a jolt to the careers of Baker Mayfield and Carson Wentz (for one game). There is a chance the Colts could decide to move on from Anthony Richardson this offseason and if that were to happen, why not see what the kid can do with a real organization?

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