An Indianapolis Colts fan might be asking themselves, "Why did my favorite team decide to sign Daniel Jones this offseason?" The move might have made more sense if Jones had been consistently good at some point in his career, but he hadn't. He also wasn't cheap to sign.
Indy could owe Jones as much as $15 million this season. Meanwhile, the Colts could have brought back Joe Flacco for a lot less, and probably for better play. Flacco, though, is now going to start for the Cleveland Browns this year. As it turns out, Jones is going to start for the Colts.
The team spent too much draft capital on Anthony Richardson not to keep sending him out on the field and hoping for success. The starting quarterback position was not fully head coach Shane Steichen's decision (general manager Chris Ballard had a bigger say), but Steichen could have pressed aggressively for Richardson to start.
Indianapolis Colts name Daniel Jones as starting quarterback
But Jones hasn't truly shown anything that would make anyone believe he should be the starter. His raw numbers don't look awful. He was seven for 11 in preseason Week 2 against the Green Bay Packers, but it was a throw he missed that might have been the most damning.
In the first quarter, Jones had a wide receiver streak down the sidelines and was ahead of his defender by almost five yards, but Jones overthrew the receiver. It was the kind of toss that a good NFL quarterback makes, and the play probably could have been a touchdown.
Indy can't afford to miss those opportunities. The one thing Anthony Richardson can do well is throw the ball deep. It is on the shorter throws where he struggles. Richardson might miss on a check-down pass, but he probably doesn't miss on the chance that Jones had.
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Richardson is also a far better runner than Daniel Jones. The offense, in theory, could be a lot more versatile with AR5 than Danny Dimes. Starting Richardson would have made more sense. If nothing else, because Indy can't be sure Richardson or Jones is going to be good.
Plus, why make Jones the starter and affect Richardson's confidence in his third season with the team? He might have been given too many chances, and possibly he will never be a truly good quarterback, but he needs reps to develop his game further in hopes he does become quite good.
Playing Jones simply means the Indianapolis Colts are OK with being mediocre. The rest of the team is good enough to win, so giving up on Richardson is unfair. Now, let's just hope that by Week 4, Richardson is not having to replace Richardson because Jones is just plain bad.