Stampede Blue
The Colts could be cautious with ramping up their young quarterback, even upon his expected early return to training camp—which could cost him in their ongoing offseason QB1 competition.
While he’s still expected to be “1000% ready for training camp,” recently shut down Indianapolis Colts 3rd-year quarterback Anthony Richardson won’t necessarily be ‘cut loose’ to begin it, per NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero on ‘The Rich Eisen Show’:
“Now, I was separately told yesterday, that he’ll 1000% be ready for training camp, but it doesn’t necessarily mean the Colts will cut him loose, right?” said Pelissero over the weekend.
“You’re going to ramp him up right after he misses the end of OTAs and minicamp, you’re not just going to go out and have him throw 600 balls on the first day of practice.”
“So these are reps now that go to Daniel Jones, and he gets more of an opportunity. I know that the coaches in Indianapolis really were excited about the prospect of bringing in Daniel Jones, even though they’ve got this remarkable ball of clay in Anthony Richardson.”
“It’s a ball of clay that’s been spending so much time in the training room over the past couple of years that it’s cost him those reps that he sorely needed as a young player who had only started 13 college games and really hadn’t played a ton.”
After recently experiencing soreness in his surgically repaired right throwing shoulder, Richardson was recently shut down from participating in the team’s minicamp.
The oft-injured, yet still only 23-year-old incumbent starting quarterback for the Colts possesses sky-high potential and unworldly athleticism, but his ongoing availability remains a major concern for the Horseshoe going forward.
He is expected to be “fully ready to go” for the team’s training camp, but at what cost?
While Richardson is not the only top quarterback prospect from the 2023 NFL Draft Class to be recently shut down from offseason throwing activity (i.e., the Houston Texans’ C.J. Stroud), given his injury track record to-date and that he’s losing a ‘leg up’ in the continuing offseason starting quarterback competition with veteran free agent addition Daniel Jones, and there has to be legitimate concern for Colts fans rooting for Richardson right now:
“Anthony Richardson, it’s a little more clouded based upon what Shane Steichen said, but it does sound like Richardson will be ready to do some things early on in training camp here.”
“Is that enough to make up the gap of coaches now, who are all going to go on vacation for the next five to six weeks thinking about how their offense looked with Daniel Jones running it—and not the guy they drafted #4 overall.”
After missing 19 starts over the past two seasons—albeit two were due to a 2-game near midseason benching last year, Richardson has to be able to consistently stay healthy in order to continue being the Colts franchise quarterback hopeful going forward—much...
