Things could have been so much easier. The decision could have been made based on past failure, and the team could have taken its chances. Instead, the Indianapolis Colts chose to go with someone else's failure instead of their own.
A team taking a player in the first-round, and watching that player get injured and be unproductive, is difficult. This is especially true if that player is a quarterback, and this is the case with Anthony Richardson. He was the fourth overall choice in the 2023 NFL draft. But a team normally sticks with a QB on a rookie deal unless they have a clear better option.
The Colts didn't and don't. The team obviously had qualms about AR5 this offseason, but instead, they embraced the strange and signed free agent Daniel Jones. The idea was to have Jones and Richardson battle for QB1.
Indianapolis Colts make the weird decision of making Daniel Jones their QB1
The odd problem the team created is that Jones had failed in his six previous seasons with the New York Giants. He had been given every chance to start with the team, but was bad enough for the Giants simply to cut bait and release him during the 2024 season. Indy general manager Chris Ballard saw Jones and saw gold, though.
Instead of trying to trade for Kirk Cousins or sign Sam Darnold, Ballard decided to make his already-underperforming quarterback situation more confusing. Instead of one first-round bust at quarterback, why not have two? And then to put the recently signed free agent first-round bust in charge of the offense? Weird.
Maybe Ballard simply doesn't want to be the Colts' general manager anymore, but instead of quitting, he wants to be fired? Or maybe Ballard doesn't like head coach Shane Steichen and wants to put Steichen in a position to be fired.
The above scenarios are almost certainly not true, but both could turn out to be. Anthony Richardson will take a seat at least at the beginning of the season (his likely poor performance not reminding Indianapolis fans what a mistake Ballard made in the 2023 draft). Meanwhile, Jones will start (likely making Steichen look weak as an offensive play-caller).
The Indianapolis Colts are beginning to not only look like a poorly-run organization in terms of reviewing its quarterback situation, but a weird one. Why not take a New York Giants first-round bust and make him the team's starter? The move is almost certainly going to backfire.