When the Indianapolis Colts play the Baltimore Ravens in each team's first preseason game of 2025, fans will have a lot of things to watch for, even though the score of the game is meaningless. There are roster battles to figure out, and rookies who need reps against a team not wearing an Indy jersey. But there is one battle that will not go unnoticed.
Colts head coach Shane Steichen is seemingly still trying to figure out who his starting quarterback will be this coming season. Will it be free agent acquisition Daniel Jones? He has tons of starting experience in the NFL, but not a great history of success.
Or will it be Anthony Richardson? He has spent his first two seasons with Indianapolis and had some promising moments as a rookie, but was an abstract failure in year two. The depressing part is that he has been fairly inaccurate in training camp so far.
Indianapolis Colts head coach Shane Steichen is taking a poor approach to the quarterback battle
But Steichen is approaching the quarterback battle in likely the worst way. A head coach secure in his job should be able to make decisions on roster battles with what he sees in practice. He doesn't need to let the battle play out publicly.
Yet, that is exactly what is going to happen in Indy. Richardson has been named the starter in preseason Week 1, and Jones is expected to start in Week 2. This is an awful way of deciding who will be QB1 for many reasons.
One is that even while Richardson and Jones are playing against different teams, those teams aren't scheming for either quarterback. No game-planning goes into preseason games. They are basically glorified scrimmages.
In other words, if Steichen truly is basing his QB1 decision on preseason games, he surely understands that what the quarterbacks are facing are vanilla schemes. Richardson, who has immense raw ability, should shine because he doesn't have to think about what a defense is doing as much. Jones is the more efficient QB and likely won't look as good.
Steichen is also risking Anthony Richardson and Daniel Jones to needless injury. A smart coach shouldn't need his starters (or even his QB2) to get many reps in a preseason game. Any test a coach wants to put a player through can happen behind the scenes in training camp.
One strength of any great leader is being decisive and then sticking with that decision until he or she is forced to adapt. Shane Steichen appears incapable of making the most important decision for his Indianapolis Colts. This could simply be one of the final steps he is allowed to take as head coach in Indy.