The Indianapolis Colts might be chugging toward another lost season. What makes 2025 worse is that the season started so promisingly. Indy was 7-1, trending toward the top seed in the AFC, and life was good. Then injuries set in, including backup quarterback Anthony Richardson.
The odd part with AR5 was that he wasn't playing when he got hurt. Instead, in Week 6 pregame warmups, he was working with an exercise band when the bar broke and hit him near his eye. He suffered a broken orbital bone.
The team placed him on injured reserve, and he has stayed there until this week. He was cleared to return to practice by doctors one day after Indianapolis signed once-retired Philip Rivers, which was days after the team lost starting quarterback Daniel Jones to an Achilles tendon tear. It's been a rough season health-wise for the Colts, and the previous is just with the quarterback situation.
Anthony Richardson's return for the Indianapolis Colts is ultimately meaningless
The seemingly positive news is that Richardson has now had his 21-day window open for potential return. Ironically, the Colts play their final regular season game of the year in 20 days. Ultimately, Richardson is very unlikely to play the rest of the season, and what fans need to ask is why they would want him to?
Besides the fact that Richardson completed fewer than half his passes in 2024, and had eight touchdown passes and 12 interceptions, apparently proving that he was nowhere near ready to be a good quarterback even in his second season in the NFL, the quarterback hasn't played any meaningful snaps this year.
Hoping that Richardson could save a failing season when he has never shown he could be good, would be extremely rusty, and the Colts might be out of the playoff picture in Week 18 anyway, is expecting too much. Christmas comes but once a year, but dreams of AR5 saving any given season are likely foolish.
The one potential truly positive aspect is if (somehow if) Anthony Richardson can play in Week 18, even if the game is meaningless against the Houston Texans, and plays well, at least he would give the Indianapolis Colts something to think about. Maybe Daniel Jones doesn't need to be re-signed. Maybe Richardson is finally ready to be a good quarterback next year.
Would one game prove that? Nope. But he is under contract next season (likely the last of his rookie deal), and he is only 23 years old. Perhaps his best football is ahead of him.