Although Indianapolis Colts head coach Shane Steichen has seemingly benched Anthony Richardson till additional discover, it was reported that the Colts held onto the second-year quarterback by means of final week’s commerce deadline as a result of they “have maintained that they nonetheless think about Richardson their future.”
However, ESPN’s Ben Solak steered in a chunk printed Tuesday that the Colts ought to’ve moved on from Richardson with veteran Joe Flacco set to start out for the 4-6 membership so long as it is nonetheless within the playoff race.
“Let this be a lesson in sunk value for you younger youngsters on the market,” Solak defined. “The Colts are clearly out on the Richardson experiment, and in the event you’re out, you bought to get out whereas the getting is sweet. I strongly consider the Colts may have gotten a top-70ish draft decide for Richardson had they traded him this previous week. The Cardinals obtained a second-rounder for Josh Rosen in 2019 after they’d already drafted Kyler Murray, for Pete’s sake!”
Regardless of what Solak wrote, it is cheap to consider a minimum of some throughout the Colts do not wish to hand over on Richardson lower than two full years after the membership made him the fourth general decide of the 2023 draft. In any case, he recorded just 13 faculty begins whereas with the Florida Gators and has thus far made solely 10 begins on the highest degree. Briefly, he was all the time going to be a venture for any membership, and he is nonetheless a piece in progress.
It is also doable that the Colts did not love any reasonable presents they acquired for Richardson earlier than the night of Nov. 5 arrived. He is accomplished simply 50.2% of his profession cross makes an attempt for 1,535 yards with seven touchdowns and eight interceptions. He additionally has a worrisome injury history and lately tapped himself out of a recreation as a result of he was “tired.”
Maybe the Colts are banking on Richardson having a better commerce worth in March 2025 than what it was final week.
“Certain,” Solak continued, “it hurts to take a man with the fourth general decide and flip him for, say, the 68th decide lower than two years later. But when the Colts aren’t going to develop Richardson, they need to commerce him whereas he is nonetheless developable. And so they refused to do it. It beats me what the plan is from right here.”
For now, the plan is for Flacco to attempt to information the Colts to a win on the struggling New York Jets (3-7) this coming Sunday. As of Tuesday afternoon, DraftKings Sportsbook listed Indianapolis as a four-point underdog for that contest.