Indianapolis Colts News & Rumors

The Colts’ pivot to Joe Flacco did not produce the kind of results the team hoped for, and the veteran is heading back to the bench. Indianapolis’ Anthony Richardson developmental effort is shifting back to on-field duty.

Although the Colts had demoted Richardson due to on-field and preparation concerns, they are reversing course. Richardson will start in Week 11, per Shane Steichen. Doubling down here, Steichen classified this change as a long-term switch by indicating Richardson will carry the keys for the rest of the season.

Steichen said Sunday he was not planning to turn back to Richardson, whose accuracy concerns had restrained the Colts’ offense. Like Dave Canales did during his initial Bryce Young-for-Andy Dalton change, Steichen reversed course days later. It will be Richardson, who is tied to a 44% completion rate, against the Jets in Week 11.

Richardson had arrived in Indiana as a hopeful savior for a Colts team that had kept shifting to different veterans following Andrew Luck‘s retirement. Instead, the unseasoned Florida product showed concerning flaws after entering the NFL with one season — a highly inaccurate one, at that — of college starting experience. The Colts had been insistent they would keep Richardson in the lineup, but his decision to leave the field for a play against the Texans catalyzed a benching themed around Flacco giving the 2024 roster a better chance to win. The yo-yoing with Richardson will continue now that Flacco has not recaptured his form from his 2023 Comeback Player of the Year season.

Trade interest came in for Richardson, as it did Young, before last week’s deadline. As expected, the Colts passed. But Steichen’s previous comments painted a cloudy picture for the former No. 4 overall pick. Now, the Colts — at 4-6 — will move their season back toward a Richardson developmental project. Although fantasy GMs rostering Colts wide receivers may not be a fan of this development, Richardson certainly needs more playing time after entering the NFL as a one-year Gators starter and missing most of his rookie season due to a shoulder injury.

Richardson’s 44.4% completion number ranks as the fifth-worst mark through six games this century, and although the QB’s 7.2 yards per attempt is not at a basement level, the dual threat’s occasional deep-ball success was not enough to keep him in the lineup in Week 9. But Flacco threw three INTs against the Bills and did not lead the Colts into the Vikings’ red zone a week prior. The 17th-year veteran will shift back to a relief role.

If the Colts stick with their QB plan this time around, they should be able to make a better determination of Richardson’s 2025 status. The team had viewed Richardson’s preparation issues as a bigger concern than his on-field struggles, further calling into question the team’s plan to give him the QB1 gig back so soon. It is possible the team will need to shop for another starter next year, as the Panthers might. Considering where the Colts’ busy offseasons at QB since Luck abruptly left in August 2019, that would not be a welcome development. As such, Richardson making progress will be vital to the Colts’ blueprint.

Richardson, who did complete 59.5% of his passes in limited duty last season, may well need to show notable improvement from his first-half form to keep GM Chris Ballard in place due to the investment made in the raw passer. This switch back to Richardson may well put the Colts’ 2024 contention prospects secondary to long-term development — in an AFC already featuring a somewhat thin wild-card race — but Flacco’s struggles were not justifying Steichen’s previous QB call. Richardson’s form will now be the central Colts storyline for the season’s final seven games.

It is not especially common for a highly drafted quarterback to be benched and then resurface as a long-term starter with that team, but two players from the 2023 draft are attempting such climbs anyway. Anthony Richardson has followed Bryce Young in being benched during the first half of his second season.

Like the Panthers’ Young benching, this is not viewed as a temporary reset that will assure Richardson of a path back into the lineup this season. Shane Steichen confirmed Wednesday (via CBS4’s Mike Chappell) that Joe Flacco is the team’s starter going forward.

Unlike the Jets’ 2022 Zach Wilson benching, Richardson will only drop to the No. 2 spot on the depth chart. Steichen confirmed (via ESPN.com’s Stephen Holder) the 2023 No. 4 overall pick will be Flacco’s top backup in Week 9. While Steichen said on multiple occasions Flacco is the team’s QB from this point on, the Colts are not giving up on Richardson in the long term. While Steichen had said Richardson playing was his best route to development, the Indy HC is backtracking on that now.

“I know I said that,” Steichen said, via ESPN.com’s Stephen Holder. “Things change. So I think right now, sitting back and seeing a veteran that’s done it at a high level for a long time, you can develop that way as well

“… It’s a difficult thing. But it’s my obligation to the 53 guys in this organization to win football games, and right now, I’m focused on the present: winning football games. We’ll get to the future when we have to get to the future.”

Given Richardson’s woeful work in the passing game this season and his highly unusual move to take himself out of the Colts’ Week 8 game for a play due to fatigue — a decision that has brought tremendous backlash — the Colts made a predictable call. Richardson’s 44.4% completion rate this season is 15 points down from his 2023 showing and doubles as the fifth-lowest mark through six games in the 21st century. For a second straight year, Flacco will step in as an emergency backup for a fringe playoff contender.

This will be a fine line for the Colts to walk, as Richardson is signed through 2026 but has seen the team that drafted him already bail on its initial experiment. The Colts turned to Richardson after several Flacco-like retreads did not provide stability. Philip Rivers was the best of that bunch, but the Colts rostered the potential Hall of Famer in his final season. Beyond Rivers, the likes of Jacoby Brissett, Carson Wentz and Matt Ryan worked as Week 1 starters following Andrew Luck‘s retirement. The Colts turned to Gardner Minshew last season, and while they wanted to re-sign the veteran, the Raiders’ offer (two years, $25MM) came in well north of where Indy was comfortable spending on a backup.

Minshew’s insertion into Indianapolis’ starting lineup provided a boost to the team’s passing game, with Michael Pittman Jr. establishing career-high marks en route to an offseason extension. Flacco, who replaced Deshaun Watson and formed immediate connections with Amari Cooper and David Njoku last season, stands to be a better option to deliver on-target passes to the likes of Pittman, Josh Downs, Alec Pierce and Adonai Mitchell. Steichen selling this to his locker room is easier than continuing to trot out Richardson, who has not developed the way the organization had hoped.

Flacco boasts an 8-to-1 TD-INT ratio this season and threw for 359 yards in one of his two starts as a Colt, but he is 39 and signed to a one-year, $4MM deal. The Colts were the only team to offer him a contract this offseason, despite his Comeback Player of the Year season occurring in Cleveland — where the former Super Bowl MVP wanted to stay. Flacco’s role will be to attempt to help a 4-4 Indy squad to the playoffs, but Richardson’s long-term status remains the more interesting part of this equation.

Young is viewed as a potential 2025 trade candidate. Considering the Colts’ issues finding a long-term QB post-Luck, it stands to reason Richardson will have another chance. The team drafted Richardson as a raw prospect, one whose lone college starter season produced a 53.8% completion rate, and has only seen him start 10 games. Through that lens, this represents a quick hook, but as the Colts compete for the playoffs, they will shift Richardson’s development into the background.

Although players like Phil Simms, Alex Smith and Drew Brees managed to overcome early-career benchings en route to long starter runs — the latter two, however, did not become surefire long-term options until leaving their initial clubs — there are not many examples of the same franchise circling back to a QB it benched. Richardson’s unique profile should still give him a chance to buck the trend, but he has a long way to go. Rumors about his future figure to swirl between now and the Colts’ 2025 offseason program.