The leadership team of the Indianapolis Colts seems to think they’ve made all the moves they needed to correct their course heading into the 2025 season. Not to go all negative on them, but I think it’s time they take the red pill, not the blue one. And no, I’m not talking about a prescription male enhancement treatment. Think Neo and the Matrix.
The Colts have refused to see the unfortunate reality facing their franchise. It’s been seven years since Andrew Luck was calling the signals for Indy. Since then, they’ve had a parade of solid backups in the starting role, with the exception of a couple of future Hall of Famers who were literally on their last legs. One of them made it through the season. The other, not so much.
General manager Chris Ballard had a brilliant idea. Let’s bring in another career backup QB to hold the fort for our terrible 4-12-1 team and draft a rookie who had a whopping 393 pass attempts in three seasons of college. Sure, Anthony Richardson is a physical specimen. Whoopee.
The Indianapolis Colts quarterback room has sealed their fate for 2025
Hathor Bjornsson - you know, the guy who played the Mountain in Game of Thrones - he’s a heck of an athlete, but you don’t expect him to play QB. Not unless you’re running the Wing-T. So why expect Richardson to be ready to play in the NFL
Not to go all negative, but let’s compare the last good QB Indianapolis had to their current situation. They used the first overall pick to take Andrew Luck from Stanford in 2012. Luck played in the pass-happy Pac-12, and he threw the ball a lot.
He had 288 attempts as a freshman, then added 372 in his sophomore season. As a junior, Luck passed 404 times. By the way, he completed over 70 percent of his passes in those last two seasons, with 69 touchdowns and just 18 interceptions.
Just a reminder: Richardson had just 393 attempts in his collegiate career. He only completed less than 55 percent of his passes, with 24 TDs and 15 INTs. His percentages: 6.1 percent TDs, 3.8 percent INTs. Luck’s numbers: 7.7 percent TDs versus just 2.1 percent INTs.
Richardson’s passer rating looks great at 133.6. That is, until you see that Luck’s rating was 162.8. They may have both gone in the top four spots of their respective drafts, but they were in no way comparable players.
Even with that huge advantage in preparation, it took Luck a full season to adjust to the league. Richardson shows zero signs of making those same adjustments. Sure, he’s looked fine in camp so far. It’s training camp.
The league is full of summer heroes that fade when the games count. So far, Richardson looks like he should be a gimmick play guy at best. Someone coach Steichen can throw into the game for five or six plays a game.
The problem is that the Colts don’t have a great alternative, either. They signed former Giants (and for a short time, Vikings) QB Daniel Jones to a one-year show-me deal. It isn’t that Jones is terrible, but he isn’t going to take any team to a title this year or any year. At this point, Indianapolis must be praying that Riley Leonard can repeat some of the magic he created 150 miles due north of Lucas Oil.