Mike Florio Perfectly Nails the Anthony Richardson Situation
Credit: Marc Lebryk-Imagn Images
To call the start of Anthony Richardson’s NFL career underwhelming doesn’t begin to capture the Colts fanbase’s frustration. Occasionally, he’s shown every bit of the potential that Colts fans thought they would get when they drafted him fourth overall just two years ago. Other times, he’s looked deeply inexperienced and incompetent under center. In a sense, the pro comparison of “Cam Newton/Christian Hackenberg” given to him by WalterFootball before he was drafted in 2023 has more or less aged perfectly.
When the team signed Daniel Jones, another top draft pick who’s carer seems destined for backup purgatory, the internet reacted accordingly.
This has to be the fairest ultimatum of all time. "Beat DANIEL JONES in camp or you're done pal." https://t.co/kVERuYXLcv
— Brandon Carney (@BenchwarmerBran) March 11, 2025
While he still has time to improve and become the long term starter that the coaching staff wants him to become, it has become clear that Richardson has lost the right to have the job handed to him on a silver platter every season. On Pro Football Talk, Mike Florio ,who stated “I think it’s as clear as can be. Jones versus Richardson, the best man wins the best plays,” perfectly described the situation and Indy’s efforts to get the most out of their physically imposing quarterback.
“I call this the Cris Carter dynamic. When the Philadelphia Eagles released him in 1990 with the justification from Buddy Ryan, ‘All he does is catch touchdowns.’ Look, the real reason was there were off field issues, substance abuse issues, well documented that the Eagles reached their wits end with Cris Carter, so they gave him the wake up call he desperately needed. And guess what? It worked. He became a Hall of Famer with the Minnesota Vikings. The issues are clearly different with Anthony Richardson. This isn’t off field. This is on-field. This is commitment. This is maturity. We saw it last year (with) tapping out of a game, something a quarterback never does, and then all the different things that it was clear he’s not putting in the work necessary to get the most out of his talents. I think teams want to give the guy the wake up call without firing him and having his wake up call come as he goes to another team and then kicks your ass for X number of years. They want the wake up call to come from inside the house, and that’s what I think this is about. So I think this is their last ditch effort to coax whatever out of Anthony Richardson they thought they were going to get when they drafted him, and if it doesn’t work, then they’ll move on from it.”
Co-host Michael Holly agreed fully, and highlighted not only the physical skills that Richardson brings to the table, but his inexperience at quarterback that the Colts knew they were going to have to deal with during his transition into the NFL.
“If you look at him, physically, he’s an impressive guy. He’s fast, he’s strong. Everything they saw at Florida, I’m sure they’ve seen in Indianapolis. The problem is, who he was in Florida too. It’s just a projection. And sometimes it’s just a projection. It’s not more than what it appears to be. So at Florida, he wasn’t a polished college athlete, college quarterback. He wasn’t somebody who really displayed any kind of mastery of the position in college, and there were a lot of excuses made for him: ‘Well, you know, he had a lot of drops from his receivers. There wasn’t a lot of talent around him.’ There’s a really good chance that this is who he is, that he can develop a little bit, but he’s never going to be an accurate passer like last year. Did he even make it to 50% I don’t think he did. And if he did, it was barely 50% of his passes. Maybe this is just who he is: a really intriguing prospect who is never going to give you the quarterbacking that you think you need to be a playoff team.”
Yes, that is the fear of many fans.
The Colts have made it clear that they want to believe in Anthony Richardson, but time is running out. There’s still some in the organization that believe if he can maximize his potential, he will be the kind of quarterback who can run all over defenses, throw footballs all the way to Muncie, and provide the Colts with a franchise quarterback they have desperately been searching for since Andrew Luck’s sudden retirement. But that number is dwindling and Daniel Jones coming to Indy to provide a quarterback competition seems like a step towards an ugly ending. The Colts have a solid receiving group, and Jonathan Taylor’s prime may be winding down before anyone realizes as such. If Richardson doesn’t realize his full potential and ward off Daniel Jones in training camp, the Colts may have to make the unfortunate decision to cut their losses with the once promising quarterback prospect.
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