Colts' Anthony Richardson Falls to Depths in QB Ranks

The Indianapolis Colts have a QB conundrum despite adding high-level defensive talents like Charvarius Ward and Camryn Bynum in free agency. It's critical to make moves like that, but the 2025 season rests on the shoulders of what Anthony Richardson can do.

Richardson found himself in a rough spot for CBS Sports' top 20 rankings of the 2021-2025 quarterback draft classes. Richardson falls almost to the back at 16th by Chris Trapasso.

"The 2024 season for Richardson did major damage to the reputation of the raw quarterback oozing with upside. Some of the completion percentage figures in individual games were ugly for Richardson, and the dual-threat skills at 6-foot-4 and 240 pounds with 4.40 speed haven't fully materialized to date."

Richardson's rushing statistics looked great as expected, putting up 499 rushing yards and six touchdowns on the ground. This isn't an area of concern for Richardson now or going forward.

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— Throw Deep Publishing - 🏈 Books and Videos (@TDPublishing) March 6, 2025

Richardson as a passer, however, was as inconsistent as any quarterback. This struggle is why he finds himself barely in front of second-overall pick and quarterback bust, Zach Wilson (17th). Trapasso put it like this on Richardson.

"There have been deep-strike flashes, no doubt. But they've been outweighed by wayward misses on easy throws and bad decisions outside of structure," said Trapasso. "He's higher than other clear first-round bust quarterbacks because he's played in 28 games since high school, counting college and the NFL, has fewer than 350 attempts on his professional resume, and only turns 23 in May. The upside still exists."

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Luckily, Richardson's 2024 can be given some grace due to his lack of experience and age (22). But he threw a whopping 12 picks to eight touchdowns in 11 games, equating to 1.09 interceptions per game and 0.67 touchdowns per contest.

Regardless of his young age and inexperience, this type of play can't continue, giving the ball away constantly. Even though he was a brute in the ground attack, he still coughed up the football nine more times. Adding to the interceptions, that's a bad 21 turnovers.

Turnovers are the best way to give an opposing defense life, which Richardson erratically did in 2024. Along with the pure passing issues, he struggled to finish the season without getting hurt, missing six games. Veteran Joe Flacco had to fill in for those contests, also playing underwhelming football.

Richardson has every excuse to succeed: he has the play-caller in Shane Steichen, an offensive line with reliable veterans and young talents, and plenty of weapons like Jonathan Taylor, Josh Downs, Michael Pittman Jr., and Alec Pierce.

Richardson has to be better, or the Colts will turn to the recently acquired Daniel Jones. If there's a vast improvement, Richardson should head and shoulders win the starting position. All eyes will be on the competition between Richardson and Jones, with the former Florida Gators leader having far more to lose.

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