Stampede Blue
The Indianapolis Colts starting quarterback carousel of the past half-decade has reached its latest installment with the competition between 2023 fourth-overall pick Anthony Richardson and free-agent signee Daniel Jones. With double-digit quarterbacks serving as band-aids since Andrew Luck‘s untimely retirement ahead of the 2019 season, general manager Chris Ballard’s efforts to right the ship have continuously fallen short.
After consecutive offseasons of bringing in aging veterans and/or reclamation projects at the sport’s most vital position, Ballard and Co. finally elected to start over by way of drafting a quarterback in the first round. Though, of course, Ballard’s persistence to keep the band together — the same team that was bad enough to have a top 5 draft selection — forced this rebuild into a retooling of sorts and thus, expediting Anthony Richardson’s college-to-pros roadmap and eventually dealing more harm than help.
The Colts had brought in veteran quarterback Gardner Minshew to pair him alongside whichever young gun they may draft in the coming months. As the board fell, Richardson wound up a Colt, and so far at least, the rest is history.
Richardson’s inexperience, shortcomings, and overall rawness as a prospect offered more questions than answers from the jump. It was clear from day one that he’d be a work-in-progress to the likes of this league had never seen in such a high draft pick, and the Colts — from coaches to management to ownership — knew this.
From the beginning and from the top, the late great Jim Irsay joined Pat McAfee’s show to prove they were understanding of the project at hand. “For Anthony Richardson, it’s going to be tough. We know that,” Irsay told McAfee. “But he has to play to get better. I mean, there’s no question. Gardner [Minshew] could come out and obviously play better early on just being a veteran, but we have to get Anthony on the field. That’s Shane [Steichen’s] call when he decides to do it.”
So immediately, we learn that all parties involved are on the same page. Jim Irsay and Chris Ballard were amidst a pivot for the regime, and such a move began with an overhaul of the coaching staff, most notably beginning with the addition of Shane Steichen to relieve his predecessor, Frank Reich, of his duties. Steichen was a first-time head coach, and his track record in developing young quarterbacks proved to be an intriguing floor-setter going into the offseason, given the draft class had numerous playstyles and makeups to choose from. Not to mention, Steichen’s then-recent success with Jalen Hurts had cleared up the vision even more once Richardson was drafted.
Before continuing, it’s important to note that Anthony Richardson is by no means absolved of his shortcomings as an NFL player thus far. Although he was an unprecedented project that required gentle care, Richardson, too, could’ve done more to solidify himself as the team’s face of the franchise. He’s since admitted such himself, but this is more to pinpoint how and why the Colts...
