The Buffalo Bills‘ quarterback room behind Josh Allen has looked a little uninspiring this offseason,.
The group is headed by former Chicago Bears third overall pick, Mitchell Trubisky, and New York Jets fan favorite, Mike White. Both quarterbacks have been predicted to not make the 53-man roster by various outlets this offseason, and both have shown decent capabilities in the race for the QB2 role.
However, instead of keeping both on, in this trade proposal the Bills think outside of the box and make a trade for a former highly-touted quarterback whose stock is at an all time low after losing his role as the starter ahead of the 2025 season – Indianapolis Colts signal caller, Anthony Richardson.
Richardson has not kicked on the way Colts head coach, Shane Steichen, and general manager, Chris Ballard, would have hoped when they drafted him with the fourth overall pick back in April 2023. And in handing the QB1 reins to former Giant, Daniel Jones, the organization could well be starting the process of saying goodbye to the former Miami product.
Anthony Richardson Was Not Well Utilized In Indianapolis
To preface, this is not an intended replacement for Josh Allen, if that was not immediately clear. Allen is still in his 20s, having just turned 29 in May, and hopefully for Bills fans has well over half a decade – and possibly a full one – left of high level production in the league.
But Richardson still has two more years left on his deal – three in the now-unlikely scenario that a team picks up his fifth year option next spring. And he has – as evaluators saw when he came out of college just over two years ago – an exceptional amount of raw, physical talent.
An organization like Indianapolis, who did not let him sit for a year behind an experienced veteran – although he did spend the majority of his rookie season out with an AC joint sprain in his shoulder – did not manage to harvest his extraordinary amount of potential into elite QB play.
Buffalo Could Be The Ideal Spot For Richardson To Develop
Buffalo; one of the better run organizations in football, and with a veteran, elite quarterback and well-respected head coach already in place; is a perfect spot for Richardson.
The Colt can spend the next one-two years learning behind Allen and improving his fundamentals with impressive offensive coordinator, Joe Brady, granting themselves a potentially very high upside backup before the Bills either trade him to a quarterback-needy team, get a mid-round compensatory draft pick, or sign him to a multi-year QB2 deal.
A trade for Richardson does not immediately grant Buffalo one of the aforementioned options, but as teams like the Packers have seen over and over again, placing naturally talented quarterbacks in good situations with successful role models to learn is one of the most surefire ways to turn a college QB into a high-caliber NFL signal caller.
The compensation is not immediately clear, although sources talking to Jeremy Fowler suggests it could amount to a deal resembling the fourth rounder that the Dallas Cowboys gave up for quarterback, Trey Lance back in 2023.
Buffalo Bills receive: Anthony Richardson, 2026 seventh round pick.
Indianapolis Colts receive: 2027 fourth round pick.
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