Pro Football Rumors
The Colts saw a pair of uncanny pregame injuries take out a player on each side of the ball today before they were even suited up in pads. The more serious of the two injuries saw backup quarterback Anthony Richardson suffer an orbital fracture when an elastic band injured his eye, per Ian Rapoport of NFL Network.
Claims were that the injury was the result of a malfunction of the elastic band while Richardson was doing band work. In each of his first two years in the NFL, the Colts have repeatedly tried to establish Richardson as the team’s next big starting quarterback, usually just for injuries to derail any chances for success. A concussion and shoulder surgery caused him to miss all but four games of his rookie season, and he missed three separate two-week stretches for the Colts last year due to injury.
The Colts apparently couldn’t even keep Richardson healthy as a backup. The 23-year-old spent today’s game at the hospital dealing with the injury as sixth-round rookie passer Riley Leonard was elevated into the QB2 role behind starter Daniel Jones. Luckily, nothing happened to Jones, who played every offensive snap for the team, but the AFC’s current No. 1 seed was a play away from being down to their QB3 due to a freak accident in pregame warmups.
The other player who was injured in an unusual manner during pregame activities today was cornerback Charvarius Ward. While running drills in pregame warmups, Ward collided with a tight end and was left concussed and unavailable for the game. This hurt an already thin cornerbacks group that featured Jaylon Jones and Kenny Moore as existing inactives. It will be interesting to see just how Ward and Richardson progress through their injuries this week and how it will affect the team going forward.
