The Indianapolis Colts have a number of questions to find answers to, but the biggest one is who their starting quarterback will be for the 2025 season. Anthony Richardson, meant to be the future of the franchise, struggled in 2024, which led to the Colts signing Daniel Jones in free agency - and then announcing the two would be competing for the QB1 job.
While general manager Chris Ballard has still remained positive about Richardson's future, the team has also continued to remain vague about who they see as their potential starter. And his latest comments, made during a pre-draft press conference, didn't do much to clarify anything.
"That'll be a decision between Shane and Jim Bob, Mr. Irsay, I, and we'll all get together and who gives us our best chance to win," he said about how they will determine which quarterback will be named starter. "I think it'd be a great competition between both of them."
He then acknowledged that both QBs have struggled in the NFL so far in their careers,
"Look, sometimes... I want to say this right," he said. "Sometimes you got to be bad before you can be good at playing this game. Sometimes you got to struggle before you can be good, all right? And we got two guys that have had some really strong flashes and they've had some bad moments too. And that's okay. I think both of them will be better because of this. And I think the team will be better because of it."
Earlier this year, Ballard has specifically said Richardson had been "drowning" before being benched, and then reiterated that the team has an open mind about which QB will win the starting role.
"Competition brings out the best in everybody," he said. "And I think we'll see that whether, you know, to sit here a day before we even start the off season, have a vision of how you don't want to begin with an end in mind. We're not going to do that. It's like the draft. You don't want to begin with an end in mind. You just, you got to let things play out the way they should and compete and who gives the team the best chance to win. My guess, if - look, if I'm a betting man, I mean, both of them, at some point, both of them will help us."