The Indianapolis Colts brought in former New York Giants and Minnesota Vikings quarterback Daniel Jones to compete with Anthony Richardson and reveal the starting field general for the team in 2025.
While it seemed like a possible sign that the team was not confident in Richardson, it’s more to put positive pressure on him to become what Indianapolis wanted him to be: the franchise quarterback to lead the charge.
Bleacher Report believes signing Jones was an intelligent move from Chris Ballard and the Colts front office. Gary Davenport laid it out in his article covering the subject matter.
“The Colts inked Daniel Jones to a one-year, $14 million contract to compete with Richardson for the starting job, and Jones told reporters that multiple factors attracted him to Indianapolis.”
Jones wanted to come to Indy for multiple reasons, but perhaps none greater than getting an opportunity to start again under center. Richardson has had some moments of greatness like leading game-winning drives in 2024 against the New York Jets and New England Patriots, but minus those instances has underwhelmed.
Davenport concluded the Indy entry with “Had the Colts signed a bigger name under center, it would essentially mean throwing in the towel on Richardson. But they could compete for an AFC South title with even average quarterback play. There are (sadly) no assurances that Richardson can provide that.”
Davenport gives a harsh reality here regarding Richardson. The young QB hasn’t shown enough consistency or availability to ensure he can take the team to new heights like a divisional title or trip to the playoffs. Also, if Indy had signed a Sam Darnold then it would have signaled curtains for Richardson as the starter.
It’s all on the former Florida Gators dynamic leader to put it all together in year three. As soon as training camp, if Richardson shows struggles with accuracy again or gets named the starter and proceeds to fall apart in the regular season, don’t be shocked if Shane Steichen turns to the veteran Jones.
It’s not what the Colts really want, as they invested everything in Richardson succeeding. However, their worst fears have come true to a degree, and this is the final stop before a possible soft rebuild is in order and the Richardson experiment in Indy is over.
Jones will do his best to press and step into the starting role, while Richardson will do everything possible to gain the confidence of fans and coaches that he’s the guy in the Circle City.
