3 NFL teams that should take a flyer on Anthony Richardson after public benching

Turns out going 10-for-32 is enough to try any team's patience. After sticking by their embattled young QB for weeks, the Indianapolis Colts have finally pulled the plug on Anthony Richardson: The team announced on Tuesday afternoon that Joe Flacco will be the starting quarterback moving forward, sending Richardson to the bench after a disastrous performance in Indy's Week 8 loss to the Houston Texans.

Though his rookie season was cut short by injury, big things were expected from Richardson in 2024. His physical tools were obvious, and he had a coach in Shane Steichen who seemed like the perfect fit to harness them while ironing out some of the flaws you'd expect from a player who started just 13 games in college. But those flaws seemed to only get worse this year; in between the occasional jaw-dropping highlight were far too many inaccurate balls or poor decisions, culminating in the debacle in Houston last Sunday.

Still, it's far too early to label Richardson a bust. He hasn't always gotten a ton of help from his supporting cast, Steichen doesn't always help him out by scheming up easy completions and it's worth noting that the film from the Texans game doesn't look quite as bad as the stat line would suggest. Who knows whether this is simply a way to get Richardson a quick reset or a sign that the Colts are ready to cut bait, but if it's the latter, several teams around the league should be on the phone ahead of next week's trade deadline.

3. Carolina Panthers

We already know Bryce Young isn't the future in Carolina, so what about the guy who went three picks behind him in the 2023 NFL Draft? Nothing is going to happen for this team until it finally finds a QB to rally around, and this year's college crop doesn't seem particularly promising at the moment; it's not hard to imagine the Panthers might be more interested in taking a shot on Richardson than, say, Quinn Ewers, Shedeur Sanders or Carson Beck.

Richardson is everything Young's not, the size of a linebacker with possibly the strongest arm in the league. We've seen Panthers coach Dave Canales succeed with QBs who didn't have a fraction of his raw talent — just look at what he did with Baker Mayfield for the Tampa Bay Bucs last season — and this could be Carolina's best chance at landing their franchise guy for the foreseeable future.

2. Los Angeles Rams

Obviously, a lot of this hinges on the health and the future plans of Matthew Stafford. If the Rams go on a run now that Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua are both back healthy, the veteran could choose to stick around for a couple more years. If retirement is on the table, though, Richardson would be an excellent pivot who wouldn't cost the same sort of draft capital it would take for L.A. to have their pick at the top of next year's draft. It's well-documented how interested Sean McVay has been in working with a true dual-threat QB, and he'd finally have that guy in Richardson, whose inconsistency and inaccuracy could look a whole lot better in such a quarterback-friendly system. If Richardson is going to make it as an NFL starter, there'd be no better place to land, and this could be the bridge the Rams are looking for as they look toward a new era.

1. New York Giants

Speaking of teams looking toward a new era: Daniel Jones' time is as good as up in New York, which means it's time to start thinking about what comes next at QB. Even before drafting Jones, the Giants were stuck in purgatory, never competitive but never bad enough to truly bottom out and pick in the top two or three of the draft. And that seems like it'll be true again this year, with teams like Carolina and the Tennessee Titans figuring to finish below them in the standings.

So if the draft won't give you a QB of the future, why not go trade for one? In a lot of ways, this could be a sneaky-good fit: Anthony Richardson profiles a bit like a young Josh Allen, and it was Giants coach Brian Daboll who helped rein Allen in a bit and turn him into a more productive passer when he was the OC of the Buffalo Bills. Brandon Beane comes from the Buffalo front office as well, so we know he has a thing for tooled-up quarterbacks just in need of some development.