Pat McAfee unloads on the entire Colts organization, takes no prisoners

Former Colts punter Pat McAfee has never been shy about expressing his opinions regarding his team. And his opinions have been especially harsh this season in particular. McAfee ripped quarterback Anthony Richardson a new one after he tapped out of a play because he was tired; McAfee said, "I had never seen an NFL QB tap out while still being healthy until watching Anthony Richardson. The QB is your franchise. The message it sends is loud and influential." But later, after numerous members of the Colts team openly criticized head coach Shane Steichen's handling of the situation, particularly how no one on the team seemed to know about the benching until it was released on social media, McAfee's tune changed.

"AR had no chance with this building that is happening. That is what I've realized over the last 12 hours," he said. "I'm wondering why AR's tapping out of games as quarterback. Like, how's this guy not know you can't, as a quarterback, do that? Like, call timeout. Waste of timeout. Instead of tapping your head and showcasing that whole thing. And, you know, is he getting better? Is he getting worse? Is he in shape? All those things. He's got nobody telling him how he's supposed to operate in that building."

He continued,

So AR had no idea how he's supposed to be a professional because there's no damn professionals in that building. These have been the stories that have been happening over the last few years. You know, and I'm not saying this team under Shane Steichen has been this, but if you remember when Frank Reich was the coach ... people were late to meetings, team meetings, people showing up late to team meetings, people were - people were missing training. You know, obviously there's a story about gambling in the locker room that came out from the Colts. And it was like, why aren't we winning? It's like, oh, the culture is just not very like conducive to being a professional outfit. And then this whole thing happens and it's like, we're all here working hard. It's like, how do you not even, what do you even, what do you mean you're not working hard in this entire thing? Joe Flacco throws a pick on the first play. Not great. Then he gets the ball back again, throws another pick. Then he's ready to go on to throw a third one.

McAfee then applauded the decision to reinstate Richardson as starter, only to get into a vocal and public feud with team captain Zaire Franklin, in which McAfee held nothing back, as per usual.

“I appreciate if the fact of the matter is that the Indianapolis Colts team is going to use me as motivation,” he began. “Zaire Franklin and E.J. Speed, two men who play on the defensive side of the ball for the Indianapolis Colts. Good ball players. They have a podcast calledThe Trenches, and they say ‘Zaire and E.J. clap back at the media’ and they use my picture, okay, in the thing, as if I’m the only human that was talking about all the problems that were happening in your locker room, okay? Your locker room. The one that had people missing treatment and gambling on the team and being late to meetings and saying they don’t work hard and quarterbacks stepping out of… and I’m the problem? Okay. Okay. I think that’s a potential part of the issue with the Colts.”

He also patted himself on the back for being part of a Colts team that made the Super Bowl and was consistently successful... while pointing out that the current Colts franchise has wallowed in mediocrity at best.

McAfee has also acknowledged that there is no shortage of talent on the roster. "But it's very obvious that something is missing behind the scenes," he said. "And I think it's like the attention to detail. And it's like the attention to detail is all of those things that I just talked about. It's not just dropping a ball half a yard before the end zone. It's like a culture thing that I think has to take place. And are these the guys that will get it done? Maybe. Hopefully the offseason will be something where they'll be able to figure it out and buy in, because it would be great, and they could be great. And it's just now we're staring down the Houston Texans going back-to-back, and us still not winning a division since 2014 with basically all of our pillar positions in place."

To no one's surprise, he had a strong reaction to the Colts' humiliating loss to the New York Giants -- but judging by his latest comments, he was just getting started. On his Thursday show, he called for changes, and spared absolutely no one.

Caution for profanity.

“I wish we could transfer portal the whole f–king team,” he said. “We need like 70 guys to hit the portal, we can’t do it in the NFL, I guess. Just in case I ever wanted to pitch myself as the president of the Indianapolis Colts, not that I ever would. I’d put a plan together, ‘How do you get rid of this entire f–king roster?'”

There were a few lucky players he thought should stay, believe it or not.

"I want Pittman here. I want Pierce here. Let's keep Quentin Nelson. Let's keep DeForest Buckner. Let's keep Kenny Moore. I like Kenny Moore," he said. "Other than that, see ya. Every one of them. Goodbye. Take a hike. Thanks for coming. Jonathan Taylor, trade his f--ing ass out of town. How do we go about doing it? You got a second round pitch? Sweet. First would be better. We'll do this for the good of the program. Anthony Richardson was a good project. Get him out of town. Fourth round or whatever the hell you got. See ya. That's what I would do if I was going into this place."

There are plenty of rumors of who might be leaving the Indianapolis organization, but it's largely been leveled towards the front office staff. How many players could get the axe before the 2025 season is still unknown - but it's clear that the state of the team is not good.