Colts QB Coach Had Honest Response to Question if Team Failed Anthony Richardson

The Colts tabbed Daniel Jones their starting quarterback over 2023 No. 4 pick Anthony Richardson.
Anthony Richardson lost the Colts' starting quarterback battle to Daniel Jones this week.
Anthony Richardson lost the Colts' starting quarterback battle to Daniel Jones this week. / Grace Hollars/IndyStar / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
In this story:

The Colts decided to name Daniel Jones as the team's starting quarterback over Anthony Richardson this week. Though Indianapolis feels confident in its decision to start Jones, it also means that its decision to pick Richardson No. 4 overall in the 2023 NFL draft and develop him has likely failed.

Colts quarterbacks coach Cam Turner, who has been with the team since they drafted Richardson, was asked Wednesday if Indy failed its young third-year quarterback.

“As a position coach, you wanna see your guys succeed and be successful, naturally," Turner responded. "I feel like I’ve tried everything I can do, and I feel like he’s giving great effort in that aspect, too. I don’t think, either way, it’s one or the other. I just think right now the consistency is just not where we wanted it to be."

As with any quarterback situation that does not go to plan, there are multiple reasons for why things went wrong. Injuries have been a major factor, as well as Richardson's lack of consistency, which Turner pointed to.

Though consistency is clearly a central—and fair—reason the Colts went with Jones, it's hard to completely buy that both the Colts coaches and Richardson have tried everything and given their best effort.

With Richardson's agent, Deiric Jackson, referring Tuesday to the trust between Richardson and the Colts as "questionable," there certainly seems to be a disconnect between the two sides.

The Colts' brass has stated their plans to be patient with Richardson multiple times, but their actions have failed to follow through on that despite them knowing Richardson was a raw prospect coming out of college. Injuries have hurt, but so has benching him twice now and limiting his opportunities for reps when he hasn't even played two full seasons of NFL football.

Richardson, who infamously removed himself in the middle of the game because he was tired, has shown moments of immaturity that don't ease concerns over his inconsistent play. It's moments like those that called Richardson's effort into question, as well as if Indianapolis did enough to help him become a leader, especially since he was such a young prospect. Or did the team simply not do enough due diligence on his intangibles coming out of Florida?

Drafting Richardson appears likely to go down as a mistake for the Colts, but the bigger mistake might actually be the way they went about trying to develop the young and talented quarterback.


More NFL on Sports Illustrated

feed


Published |Modified
Eva Geitheim
EVA GEITHEIM

Eva Geitheim is a contributor to the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. Prior to joining SI in December 2024, she wrote for Newsweek, Gymnastics Now and Dodgers Nation. A Bay Area native, she has a bachelor's in communications from UCLA. When not writing, she can be found baking or re-watching Gilmore Girls.