The Indianapolis Colts are in for another disappointing season, so buckle in now. It's about to get rough.
The 2024 campaign was, on balance, a complete failure for the Colts, a team with postseason aspirations that soured within weeks. Sophomore quarterback Anthony Richardson was unquestionably part of the problem, but there was nothing so egregious as how Indy responded to his struggles.
Indianapolis sat its 22-year-old quarterback midway through a Week 4 matchup with the Pittsburgh Steelers. In the next game, it was 39-year-old Joe Flacco under center from the jump. The Colts benched a first-round pick in his eighth career game in order to tread water with an aging has-been. It was baffling.
Even if you were convinced Flacco was the "better" quarterback, the process was bad. It was an illogical decision for a team looking to build a sustainable future around Richardson. He eventually took the job back, but the damage was done. The track record for quarterbacks benched on their first contract in this league is, well, not great.
Now the Colts are setting up Richardson for the same aggravating nonsense in 2025. Daniel Jones inked a one-year, $14 million contract with Indy after splitting last season between the New York Giants, the Giants' practice squad defense, and the Minnesota Vikings. He was an abject disaster in New York and he never played in Minnesota. So naturally, it feels like he is going to steal Richardson's job out from under him.
Colts GM Chris Ballard sets the stage for Daniel Jones to usurp Anthony Richardson in Indianapolis QB room
Colts GM Chris Ballard took time this week to stack the deck against his recent first-round pick.
"Between Daniel and Anthony, you're going to see a really good competition," Ballard told Indy's official team website. "It's going to be a spirited competition, but I also think it's going to be one where they help each other to grow, too."
Do we just have collective amnesia about Jones' last six years in East Rutherford? Am I the only one who remembers? It's like that movie where the guy becomes the only person on Earth who remembers The Beatles. Only much darker.
Guys, Daniel Jones is 1-for-6 when it comes to consistent, healthy, good NFL seasons. That batting average gets you sent to Triple-A in MLB. The Giants did Jones zero favors with the roster around him, but Jones' issues stretched far beyond team incompetence. Sure, let's see what he looks like behind a functional O-line, but arm strength and accuracy are real questions here. The burden of proof should be on Jones, not Richardson. To promote this is an equal competition is wild. The Colts are self-sabotaging with one of the most athletically gifted quarterbacks in recent NFL history.
"And so we thought Daniel's skill set and Anthony's skill set -- there's a lot of similarities there," Ballard said. "So offensively, I think that's going to help our offensive staff, so OK, we don't have to make these wholesale changes with one guy or the other."
Great, so again, it sounds like the Colts are content to hand the controls over to Jones. Running the same stuff with him with definitely work out.
I am not blind to Richardson's shortcomings — the dude through 12 interceptions in 11 games — but the whole point of developing a young quarterback is to, well, develop him. Few signal-callers in the NFL boast a higher ceiling than Richardson if he can put the pieces together. The mobility, the arm strength. Jones doesn't come close to offering the same tools that Richardson does.
Indianapolis needs to be more patient with the Florida Gators product. This hurry to install a better, mediocre vet will only perpetuate the Colts' vicious cycle of mediocrity.