The Indianapolis Colts are in turmoil. Anthony Richardson, the quarterback who was supposed to be the future of the franchise, has struggled this season - partly due to his youth and inexperience, and partly due to head coach Shane Steichen's inability to develop him - and those problems only got worse when he sat out a play because, in his own words, he was "tired." That led to Steichen choosing to bench Richardson in favor of veteran QB Joe Flacco, who Steichen said gives the Colts the best chance to win throughout the rest of the season. Yet it seems few people agreed with the decision, even leading to rumors that Steichen subsequently lost the locker room.
The narrative that Flacco would lead the Colts to victory was already controversial, but it became even worse for Steichen after they lost to the Minnesota Vikings, with a horrible performance from Flacco and the offense overall. Fans have been calling for Richardson to return as starter, and he's been getting votes of confidence from other experts, too.
Now, another NFL expert is weighing in, and it's someone from the Colts franchise, too.
Jeff Saturday slams Steichen
Colts fans will remember Jeff Saturday for his various roles with the Colts. First, he played as center for 13 seasons in Indianapolis, winning one Super Bowl, as well as being selected to four All-Pro teams and five Pro Bowls. Less illustrious was his brief time as head coach for the Colts, which took place for eight weeks after Frank Reich was fired in 2022. Saturday was replaced by Steichen, and in his retirement, frequently serves as an analyst for sports media programs.
He recently appeared on The Domonique Foxworth Show to discuss the Richardson-Flacco situation, and Saturday did not hold back.
Former Colts coach and center Jeff Saturday sounds off on how the organization has handled Anthony Richardson and decided to start Joe Flacco this soon into his career.
— The Domonique Foxworth Show (@FoxworthShow) November 6, 2024
"That's just not the Colts that I know and that I played for...what's the long-term and vision and plan?" –… pic.twitter.com/xWeuMakFoh
"So when you draft a guy fourth in the draft that has played 12 or 13 games in college, development should couple in that conversation. Let's just be real, right?" Saturday began. "I mean, I think it was Bill Parcells who put it out. He wanted a starter to have, I don't remember, 30 or 40 starts or something before he would really want to consider them. And I don't know it has to be that many, but I agree that the more guys play in college, the better equipped they usually are to come in and take over an NFL offense."
From there, Saturday argued that the Colts bungled Richardson's career from day one.
"We're going to let Minshew be the guy in year one. We're going to let Flacco be the guy in two. We're going to kind of take our lumps, do whatever. We're going to build around them because those guys aren't going to cost any money," he said. "He's on a rookie contract, and we're going to build around them. Then by year three, we're going all-in to Anthony Richardson. And now we're going to go, right? We're going to go with him. We're going to go with his athleticism. And now he's figured out how to prepare, how to get this thing going, how to lead a team."
Instead, the Colts essentially threw Richardson to the wolves, failed to adequately prepare him, made play calls that didn't tailor to his strengths, and then benched him when he struggled. But worse than that, Saturday said, the media blitz afterwards had disturbing implications.
"All of the intangibles that you are now saying that are quote being, 'leaked out,' which basically means somebody's agenda is being filled from the front office, just saying that, right?" he said. "So let's make sure that when we say things are being dumped, it's being dumped for a reason. All right? So all the fans who listened to all of it, it's being said by somebody who's protecting a job somewhere. All right? So let's just put that out there. But so now you've benched a kid after 10 games in the NFL."
And with Richardson's benching, the Colts have essentially shot themselves in the foot, yet again. Saturday made the point that if Richardson wasn't ready, they shouldn't have started him this season, but they did, and are now back on the dreaded quarterback carousel.
"Now the Colts are back in the same situation they've been in nearly for a decade now since Andrew Luck left. With the Phillip Rivers, the Matt Ryans, right? We're going to bring in an aging quarterback who's not going to be here -- yeah, Foles -- we're not going to be here very long," Saturday said. "We're going to stay over for a little bit. We're going to win. We're going to be 500-ish. You know, we're not going to make the playoffs, or we're going to make the playoffs and lose in round one. We're not going to win the division. I don't know how long it's been since they won the division, but we're not going to push for the division. None of that stuff. Like that's just not the Colts that I know and that I played for. And so it's just a different way about however it's being done."
Saturday did say Richardson's decision to tap out made him angry, but that the conversation about that should have stayed in the locker room; furthermore, he said Flacco potentially leading the Colts to more wins puts them in a worse position once the season is over.
"So best case scenario for the Colts, you find your way into the playoffs and you draft 20th, whatever that is, 18th. Are you getting better? Is Andy Richardson better? Is Flacco going to be your guy next year? What's the long-term vision and plan of how this organization moves forward? You're seeing Jaden Daniels. You're seeing Caleb Williams. You're seeing Bo Nix, for God's sake. You're seeing a lot of guys have some success. And I'm just wondering, okay, all those guys are having success. We got an outlier here. What's our issue? What do we do? How do we develop them? If we're a team that believes in development, we got to develop them. And right now that doesn't look like it's going to happen."