Colts' Offseason Described as 'Hedging'; Is There a Misunderstanding?

The Indianapolis Colts' offseason has received mixed reviews.

It started with a bang when they agreed to terms with starting defensive backs Charvarius Ward and Camryn Bynum on day one. Both players were among the best available at their positions, and the Colts were widely applauded.

However, on the next day, things got murky as the Colts tabbed Daniel Jones as the quarterback to compete with Anthony Richardson to be the starter. Richardson, who owned the NFL's worst completion percentage in 2024 and was benched for two games, would be competing against Jones, who also was benched by the New York Giants.

On the surface, yeah, that's not appealing, but that evaluation completely glosses over the nuance of the situation.

Bleacher Report's Brad Gagnon is among those not impressed by the Colts' offseason. He assigned one word to every NFL team's offseason and described the Colts as "hedging."

"How else would you describe the addition of Daniel Jones as an insurance policy for third-year quarterback Anthony Richardson," Gagnon asked. "Outside of that, a mediocre team got worse in the trenches but improved in the secondary. Nothing to move the needle."

There are some valid peripheral points here, as the Colts lost starting offensive linemen Ryan Kelly and Will Fries in free agency, although they planned ahead last offseason and already have replacements for them on the roster. However, this whole argument does seem largely pointed at the quarterback situation.

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While Gagnon (and the many who share his opinion) is justified in questioning the Colts' approach, there does seem to be some sort of misunderstanding about what the Colts are trying to do at quarterback.

The Colts want things to work out with Anthony Richardson. If they do, then it would give them a franchise quarterback, who they invested the fourth-overall pick in two years ago. Plus, if he doesn't work out, then it's going to look terrible for Chris Ballard and Shane Steichen. The 2025 season feels like do-or-die on Richardson's tenure in Indianapolis, but there likely are several people in the building whose seats are rather warm.

The Colts brought in competition in the form of a veteran quarterback in Jones, who's started 69 games in the NFL and has just as much motivation to spark his career as Richardson does. Right now, the outside view of these two players is quite low, but they both have enough time in their careers to turn things around.

For those underwhelmed by Jones being selected to compete with Richardson, how many better options were there? If Richardson wins the job, great; the team has hope at the quarterback position and a really solid option as their backup.

Going and getting a guy like Sam Darnold, Kirk Cousins, Aaron Rodgers, Russell Wilson, or Justin Fields goes against trying to have Richardson be the guy. Those players, for the most part, are expensive and all but guaranteed to be the starter for their team.

There's a lot on the line for the Colts in 2025, and they're relying on at least one of two former top-10 draft picks to rise to the occasion and lead them.

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