Who knew Daniel Jones was going to be so good for the Indianapolis Colts in 2025? Sure, we are just two games into the season, but how many national pundits predicted he would be good from the start? Very few.
Jones has played so exceedingly well that he has probably pushed former starter (and trending 2023 first-round draft bust) Anthony Richardson toward being invisible until his Indy career is done. That is very likely to be after the 2026 season. But let's hope Jones continues to play well.
Some of the few people who have any hopes that AR5 will be good are the folks at ESPN, and specifically, Seth Walder. In a recent ranking of the top 12 backup quarterbacks in the NFL, Richardson somehow made the list. Moreover, he was inside the top 10.
ESPN ranks Indianapolis Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson far too high
The question is why? Walder even says, "Richardson probably has the lowest floor of any quarterback on this list, given his extreme accuracy issues highlighted by a wildly low career minus-10% completion percentage over expectation."
The ESPN reporter does seem to like that Richardson likes to throw deep. A higher percentage of his passes travel 20-plus yards than any other backup quarterback on the list, other than Jameis Winston. If you are in a "positive" group with Winston, that is not a good thing.
So what if Richardson likes to toss the ball deep? That is probably because he is even more inaccurate on shorter throws. His career completion percentage is only 50.6. That is a terrible trait for a quarterback. In fact, if Richardson has to replace Daniel Jones, the Indianapolis Colts are likely doomed.
The fact is that the ESPN article is bogus. Assuming that there are 23 backups in the NFL worse than Richardson is ridiculous. Of course, Walder's list also includes New Orleans Saints QB Tyler Shough and New York Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart, both of whom are rookies and neither has yet thrown a pass in their careers.
The article almost seems as if ESPN went to Seth Walder and said he needed to write the tripe, and he simply listed the 12 backup quarterbacks off the top of his head. Plus, why 12? Why not rank them all? If that were the case, Indianapolis Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson should still rank in the 20s.