In 2023, the Indianapolis Colts hired a new head coach in Shane Steichen, the former offensive coordinator of the Philadelphia Eagles who was expected to bring a fresh offensive approach to the team after helping the Eagles to a Super Bowl run the previous year. They also used the fourth-overall pick on quarterback Anthony Richardson out of the University of Florida.
So far, it hasn’t gone well and it’s easy to point the finger at Richardson, who has been mostly dreadful with spots of hope. And R.J. White of CBS Sports correctly notes that Richardson is wading into dangerous waters in terms of famous draft busts.
“When Richardson has been on the field, the results have been uneven,” White writes. “He completed just 47.7% of his 264 pass attempts last year, and while you can chalk it up to being a young player still developing, just two QBs since 2000 have failed to complete 48% of at least 250 passes since 2000: Tim Tebow at age 24 and Akili Smith at age 25. The pair combined to throw 49 more passes over their next two seasons before crashing out of the NFL.”
That’s not good company. Even former Seattle Seahawks quarterback Rick Mirer – drafted No. 2 overall in 1993 behind Drew Bledsoe – managed to win an AFC Rookie of the Year award before teams figured out he couldn’t throw to his left. Richardson is getting close to battling just to prove he deserves an NFL roster spot.
Richardson has a ways to go
A 47.7% completion rate is absolutely unacceptable by any metrics. If there was a Menoza Line for NFL quarterbacks, I promise it would be way higher than 47.7%. Way higher.
Frank Schwab of Yahoo! Sports dropped another Richardson gem of a stat recently that should set off alarm bells for just about everyone in the 317 area code.
“Richardson was 12.9% worse in completion percentage than any other quarterback that had 250 attempts last season,” Schwab wrote. “Tua Tagovailoa led the NFL in completion percentage at 72.9%; Richardson would have had to complete 245 passes in a row last season to match that. Despite all that, the Colts were close to a .500 team.”
245 passes in a row. There might not be a better illustration of how far Richardson has to go.
The Steichen-Richardson duo might not last long in Indy
It was poised to be a happy pairing as it isn’t always easy to get a new coach and potential franchise quarterback at the same time and tie them together. For every 1999 Andy Reid and Donovan McNabb coupling, there are plenty of coach/G.M./quarterback rotation disasters like the Chicago Bears like to engage in.
So, while there was plenty of optimism in Indianapolis a couple of years ago, then 9-8 in 2023 and 8-9 last year happened. White points that the experiment hasn’t gone as planned so far.
“Shane Steichen came to the Indianapolis Colts two years ago as a hot coaching candidate after his time working with the Eagles offense, and the selection of Anthony Richardson in the 2023 NFL Draft seemed to give Steichen a supercharged athlete to build around at the quarterback position,” White writes. “However, Richardson played just four games as a rookie due to injury and was in and out of the lineup last year, leaving Steichen to roll with Gardner Minshew and Joe Flacco in 19 of the team’s 34 games over the last two years.”
White then states the obvious. This year, they have a better backup plan, even if that plan is Daniel Jones. The Colts would have to hope that Jones can pull a Sam Darnold and get the teams to the playoffs.
“If Richardson starts poorly again in 2025, Steichen may be forced to turn to Giants castoff Daniel Jones at quarterback,” White concludes. “The 2019 sixth overall pick was 24-44-1 as a starter in the Big Apple, but his first season with Brian Daboll featured a playoff berth and even a wild-card win while Jones had a league-best 1.1% interception rate and completed more than two-thirds of his pass attempts. If Steichen can get that level of production out of the quarterback position, the Colts may be able to finally break free from playing .500 football and earn a playoff berth in 2025.”
At the very least, Richardson needs to claw his way out of comparisons to Smith and Tebow.
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