Wild card in Anthony Richardson decision

[Colts And Orioles]

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Colts Decline Anthony Richardson’s 5th-Year Option Amid QB’s Trade Request

(By James Boyd)

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/724...h-year-option/



The Indianapolis Colts declined the 5th-year option on quarterback Anthony Richardson Sr.’s rookie contract, a league source confirmed to The Athletic on Friday. The Colts had until Friday to exercise Richardson’s fifth-year option that would have paid the 2023 No. 4 pick a fully guaranteed $22.5 Million in 2027, per Over the Cap. Now, he’s set to become an unrestricted free agent next year.

FOX59 was first to report that the Colts declined Richardson’s 5th-year option.

3 QBs were selected in the 1st round in 2023 ...... No. 1 pick Bryce Young of the Carolina Panthers, No. 2 pick C.J. Stroud of the Houston Texans, and Richardson. Richardson is the only one who did not have his 5th-year option picked up.

The Colts’ decision to decline the fifth-year option on Richardson’s contract was expected, which further signals that his tumultuous tenure with the franchise is likely coming to an end. It’s just a matter of when. The 23-year-old requested a trade in February after three underwhelming seasons in Indianapolis, but the Colts have been unable to strike a deal.

Richardson was limited to 15 starts (8-7) through his first 2 years with the Colts due to injuries, inaccuracy and immaturity. He lost the starting job to Daniel Jones last year. Jones, who played on a one-year, $14 Million contract in 2025, led Indianapolis to an 8-2 start that placed the team atop the AFC standings before fracturing his left fibula and tearing his right Achilles tendon. Despite those injuries, the Colts placed the transition tag on Jones this offseason and then re-signed him on a 2-year, $88 Million deal that solidified him as the team’s QB of the future.

The Colts’ organizational pivot away from Richardson was years in the making. Richardson showed promise as a rookie, scoring seven total TDs in his first four games (three passing and four rushing) while completing 59.5 percent of his passes. But Richardson’s first year was cut short after he suffered a severe AC joint sprain in his right (throwing) shoulder that required surgery.

Richardson returned for the 2024 campaign, but his performance took a noticeable dip as he finished with a 47.7 completion percentage, the lowest mark in the NFL and the lowest in Colts history. He was limited to 11 games because of injuries and a 2-game benching that came on the heels of him tapping out of a game against the Houston Texans because he was “tired.” Richardson’s request for a sub, something QBs rarely do unless they’re injured, was viewed as a cardinal sin by some of his teammates and drew league-wide criticism.

Veteran Joe Flacco replaced Richardson as the starting QB, but after Flacco played poorly and the Colts lost back-to-back games, Richardson was reinserted into the starting lineup. In his return, Richardson authored the best performance of his career in a road win against the New York Jets. He had 3 total touchdowns (one passing and two rushing), highlighted by the game-winning, 4-yard TD run with 46 seconds left. He also completed 20-of-30 passes for 272 yards.

Richardson, however, was unable to string together enough strong performances to become the team’s unquestioned starter. At the end of his second season, Colts general manager Chris Ballard declared an open quarterback competition with a to-be-determined challenger, which wound up being Jones. It took Jones only a few months to supplant Richardson as QB1, winning the job by the end of training camp.

Richardson entered the 2025 campaign as Jones’ backup, but he suffered an orbital fracture during a pregame warmup accident in October that required surgery and left him with impaired vision in his right eye. He remained on injured reserve for the rest of the season. Richardson’s representatives provided the Colts with medical documentation in February, around the same time his trade request became public, that showed the dual-threat QB has since regained “20/20 vision” when using both of his eyes, league sources told The Athletic. But when Ballard was asked last month if Richardson had regained his full vision, the GM was less definitive.

“He’s still recovering a little bit, but he’s cleared for activity and doing everything,” Ballard said. “So, I think he’s in a good spot.”

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[Oldcolt]

The whole AR thing has just been an unmitigated disaster; from living through the season that gave us the 4th pick to how his 'career' has been so far it is just depressing.

[Kray007]

Originally Posted by Oldcolt

The whole AR thing has just been an unmitigated disaster; from living through the season that gave us the 4th pick to how his 'career' has been so far it is just depressing.

Personally, I don’t find myself getting constipated over Richardson. Whenever you send the card to the podium with the name of a Quarterback penciled in, you realize that there’s a pretty good chance that things will go sideways

In the immortal words of Ned Stark, “Whenever you take a Quarterback in the 1st round, the gods roll the dice.”

The Colts have spent six first round picks on the position. Three times, the coin landed heads up…Bert Jones, Peyton Manning and Andrew Luck. Three times, it’s been tails…Art Schlichter, Jeff George and Richardson.

I’ll admit that my enthusiasm for Daniel Jones probably colors my outlook. If Mike Pagel or Marty Domres were the next man up, I’d probably be sitting here with a metaphorical pistol, thinking about a nice game of Russian roulette.

Instead, I’m thinking of raindrops on roses, whiskers on kittens, grinding the AFC South into the dust, and hoisting the Lombardi trophy in February.

[Oldcolt]

Originally Posted by Kray007

Personally, I don’t find myself getting constipated over Richardson. Whenever you send the card to the podium with the name of a Quarterback penciled in, you realize that there’s a pretty good chance that things will go sideways

In the immortal words of Ned Stark, “Whenever you take a Quarterback in the 1st round, the gods roll the dice.”

The Colts have spent six first round picks on the position. Three times, the coin landed heads up…Bert Jones, Peyton Manning and Andrew Luck. Three times, it’s been tails…Art Schlichter, Jeff George and Richardson.

I’ll admit that my enthusiasm for Daniel Jones probably colors my outlook. If Mike Pagel or Marty Domres were the next man up, I’d probably be sitting here with a metaphorical pistol, thinking about a nice game of Russian roulette.

Instead, I’m thinking of raindrops on roses, whiskers on kittens, grinding the AFC South into the dust, and hoisting the Lombardi trophy in February.

It isnt that we missed on the number 4 choice with me. It is that we spent the better part of a decade trying to find one and continue to come up with zilch. If I believed in Jone like you did I would probably feel different, but I think Jones is another mediocre injury prone QB. I hope you are correct and I am wrong.

[Colts And Orioles]

Originally Posted by Kray007

Instead, I’m thinking of raindrops on roses, whiskers on kittens, grinding the AFC South into the dust, l and hoisting the Lombardi Trophy in February.

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New rule ...... if the last time that your favorite football team won a single playoff game predates the COVID pandemic, you're not allowed to talk about winning the Super Bowl until they at least win 10 regular season games.

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[Colts And Orioles]

Originally Posted by Colts And Orioles

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New rule ...... if the last time that your favorite football team won a single playoff game predates the COVID pandemic, you're not allowed to talk about winning the Super Bowl until they at least win 10 regular season games.

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For the record, I have a very rosy outlook for the 2026 Colts ...... I think that they are a lot closer to the team that nearly beat the Seahawks on their homefield with a 44 year-old Philp Rivers at quarterback than they are to the team that shit the bed against the Steelers with a young, healthy Daniel Jones at quarterback ...... I'm simply acknowledging the fact that since Philip Rivers' initial retirement immediately following the solid 2020 season that the Colts' 9-8 and 8-9 seasons have felt like part of the plot for the 1993 movie Groundhog Day.

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[Kray007]

Originally Posted by Colts And Orioles

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New rule ...... if the last time that your favorite football team won a single playoff game predates the COVID pandemic, you're not allowed to talk about winning the Super Bowl until they at least win 10 regular season games.

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I was trying for over the top there. Indulging in a bit of hyperbole.

[Colts And Orioles]

Originally Posted by Kray007

I was trying for over the top there ...... indulging in a bit of hyperbole.

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OK.

That's also what I was doing when I suggested that you sometimes act like the Colts have been playing like the Kansas City Chiefs' dynasty from 2018 throuigh 2024 in another thread.

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[Kray007]

Originally Posted by Colts And Orioles

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OK.

That's also what I was doing when I suggested that you sometimes act like the Colts have been playing like the Kansas City Chiefs' dynasty from 2018 throuigh 2024 in another thread.

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I am painfully aware that they haven’t played as well as KC. 😊

They’ve been a middling, middle of the pack squad, drawn under by a series of mediocre Quarterbacks. I can only wonder what might have been had Andrew Luck not retired. Andrew was a true unicorn, a Quarterback who could carry a bad team on his back and elevate it into the playoffs.

With him, there’s no Carson Wentz fiasco, no Matt Ryan, no need to spend a premium draft pick on a QB with only a handful of starts in college.

[YDFL Commish]

Originally Posted by Kray007

I am painfully aware that they haven’t played as well as KC. 😊

They’ve been a middling, middle of the pack squad, drawn under by a series of mediocre Quarterbacks. I can only wonder what might have been had Andrew Luck not retired. Andrew was a true unicorn, a Quarterback who could carry a bad team on his back and elevate it into the playoffs.

With him, there’s no Carson Wentz fiasco, no Matt Ryan, no need to spend a premium draft pick on a QB with only a handful of starts in college.

I want to ask everyone on this forum, what would the the Colts regular season record have been, had Ballard moved heaven and earth to acquire the best QB's in the draft from 2020 to 2023? Let's say Ballard moves heaven and earth to get Joe Burrow in 2020 or Trevor Lawrence in 2021. Shockingly 2022, was a very weak QB draft class, so it might be a tossup between Kenny Pickett and Malik Willis. For 2023, I'll only include CJ Stroud, since he has been the most productive.

My take, is that if Ballard had moved heaven and earth to draft Burrow, we would've been a perennial contender and won the division more often than not, and may even have a Super Bowl to show for it.

My reasoning, we are way more functional organization than the Bungles.