It took just a few weeks of training camp and all of two preseason games for Indianapolis Colts head coach Shane Steichen to decide who will be his starting quarterback.
Both Daniel Jones, a former first-round pick of the New York Giants, and Anthony Richardson, the No. 4 overall pick in the 2023 draft, had been splitting reps and alternating starts, and on Tuesday Steichen announced that Jones had won the competition.
In two preseason games, Jones had slightly outplayed Richardson, completed 17 of 32 passes for 245 yards, while Richardson completed 8 of 14 passes for 94 yards. The 23-year-old left the team’s preseason opener in the first period after suffering a hand injury on a blindside hit from Baltimore Ravens linebacker David Ojabo.
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“[Jones is] our starting quarterback for the season,” Steichen told reporters on Tuesday. “I don’t want to have a quick leash on that. I feel confident in his abilities.”
Richardson spoke to reporters not long after the Jones news broke, seemingly staying in good spirits all things considered.
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“[Steichen] made a decision,” Richardson said. “That’s the decision we’ve got to live with, but no hard feelings, nothing personal. I’ve just got to keep growing. I just can’t let me not being a starter stop me from going and being the person, the player that I’m supposed to be.”
While Steichen’s decision seems to be final regarding injury, prompting many to wonder about Richardson’s future in Indianapolis.
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And Richardson’s agent Deiric Jackson didn’t do anything to dissuade those concerns with what he said in an exclusive interview with ESPN, subtly hinting Richardson’s relationship might be fractured beyond repair.
“We have a lot to discuss,” Jackson told ESPN. “Trust is a big factor and that is, at best, questionable right now. Anthony came back and made the improvements in the areas he needed to improve. And by all accounts, he had a great camp.
“… When they needed a big play last year, whose hands did they put the ball in? Anthony’s.”
Richardson’s first two years with the Colts have been quite rocky. He’s played just 15 of 32 games and suffered multiple injuries and been benched for ineffectiveness multiple times.
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