It's clear that the Anthony Richardson era has not panned out the way that the Indianapolis Colts were hoping. After spending the fourth overall pick on Richardson in the 2023 NFL Draft, the former Florida standout hasn't risen to the occasion in Indy, and it's obvious that it's time for the two sides to part ways.
The problem is that other teams don't appear to be interested in acquiring Richardson in a trade, or at least not for what the Colts would hope to get for their former first-round quarterback. Jeremy Fowler and Dan Graziano of ESPN, however, came up with possible trade proposals involving Richardson and the return for him wasn't terrible.
Fowler proposed a trade with the Green Bay Packers where the Colts would receive a fifth-round pick in next year's draft in exchange for Richardson.
ESPN offers possible trade packages for Anthony Richardson
"Richardson wants to be in a variation of the McVay-Shanahan-LaFleur system and took notice of what Packers coach Matt LaFleur did with Malik Willis. Green Bay signed Tyrod Taylor earlier this month but at a modest $2.5 million. With this trade, Indianapolis adds much-needed draft capital and moves forward with Riley Leonard as its No. 2 quarterback. And Green Bay asks Indy to cover a portion of Richardson's $5.4 million in 2026 guarantees."
Graziano proposed a trade with the Chicago Bears that would send Richardson to the Windy City in exchange for backup quarterback Tyson Bagent. No draft picks are involved here but it'd give the Colts a reliable backup for Daniel Jones.
"I don't see anyone giving up a pick for Richardson at the moment. The Bears dangled Bagent in trade offers earlier this offseason, and here he likely gives the Colts a better backup option than Leonard.
Richardson gets to learn from Bears coach Ben Johnson and maybe show enough in the preseason that he becomes appealing to another team in trade. Heck, maybe Johnson has some ideas for how to use him in a package or two. The Bears still have Case Keenum behind Caleb Williams as a veteran backup."
Obviously the Colts would want to get a draft pick for their former draft pick but Graziano's proposal isn't a terrible one. Bagent is a better backup than Riley Leonard and the deal would work out well for Richardson too, who, as Graziano stated, would get to learn from offensive wizard Ben Johnson.
The Colts would likely hope to get a better haul than either a fifth-round pick or a backup quarterback but the fact of the matter is that Richardson hasn't played decently enough to merit anything more than that. He was injured during his rookie year, ineffective during his sophomore season, and didn't play in Year 3. The Colts would be lucky to get anything for him at this point.
Quarterbacks drafted in the first round fail more often than not and Richardson is simply another example of that. The Colts should take what they can get for him and move on.
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