The Indianapolis Colts have talent, especially on offense, but they don’t have a legitimate quarterback to run the show, at least not yet.
Over the last five years, they have shuffled through multiple candidates, including Jacoby Brissett, Philip Rivers, Carson Wentz and Matt Ryan.
Last spring, they drafted Anthony Richardson out of the University of Florida with the No. 4 pick in the hopes that he would be their QB of the future.
Richardson, a bulky 6-foot-4, 244-pound prospect, saw his stock rise coming out of the 2023 scouting combine, which likely resulted in him going so high in the draft even though his college stats weren’t extremely impressive.
He showed short flashes of potential as a rookie before a shoulder injury terminated his year after just four games. Without him, the Colts had to get by with Gardner Minshew II under center, and with a 9-8 record, they missed the playoffs.
While Richardson has participated in OTAs, he is still dealing with shoulder soreness.
Some fans may feel the team is lying about the severity of his injury, and when one fan tweeted his concern, insider Stephen Holder responded that Indianapolis doesn’t lie about player injuries more than other NFL teams.
The reality is the Colts do not have a history of lying about injuries (not any more than other teams).
Andrew Luck’s shoulder situation was always fluid and there was a very clear and documented setback. The prognosis turned out to be wrong as a result.
That’s it. https://t.co/EWLKhG0Ins— Stephen Holder (@HolderStephen) June 6, 2024
Richardson’s potential lies in being a dual-threat quarterback, and while he completed just 54.7 percent of his pass attempts in college, he ran for 654 yards and nine touchdowns as a junior in 2022.
Unfortunately, dual-threat signal-callers are prone to injury because of the contact they have to endure, or at least that is the narrative.
The Cleveland Browns’ Deshaun Watson, another quarterback who has been a major threat on the ground, played in just six games last year before he also suffered a season-ending shoulder injury.
Over the last couple of years, a large number of QBs across the league, dual-threat or not, have sustained significant injuries that have forced them to miss a significant amount of time.
The Indianapolis Colts have Jonathan Taylor, an outstanding running back who has also struggled with injury issues over the last two seasons. But when he has been healthy, he has been a force to be reckoned with.
Wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr. is a solid threat who was recently given a three-year, $70 million contract extension, and Josh Downs has shown promise as a legitimate WR2.
Ultimately, they will go as far as Richardson is capable of taking them. Joe Flacco, a 39-year-old veteran, is his main backup, so he will need to be healthy in time for training camp so he can develop quickly.
