According to ESPN’s Ben Solak, the Indianapolis Colts, sitting at 2-3, should play primary backup quarterback Anthony Richardson Sr., given the underwhelming play of starter Daniel Jones through five games so far this season:
I might think … the Colts should play Anthony Richardson Sr. They won’t trade him, and Daniel Jones looks like his arm is weaker almost every single week. This offense could really use an infusion of playmaking from a talented runner at the quarterback position.
Interestingly enough, Solak stops short of saying that the Colts should actually start Richardson Sr., although given Jones’s physical limitations coming off a torn Achilles so far, maybe that’s implied here.
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I’m not saying I can’t eventually get there, if the Colts continue to play lackluster football, but I’m just not there yet.
By giving up on Jones this early in the season, you essentially are waving the white flag that he’s not the QB answer either. You’d be creating a starting quarterback controversy again in Indianapolis, and the infamous saying by the legendary late John Madden is, “When you have two quarterbacks, you actually have none.”
When the Colts re-signed Jones to a 2-year, potentially $100 million deal with incentives this past offseason, they had to know that Jones may not fully regain his physical form from the ‘first half of the 2025 campaign,’ until later this season or maybe not entirely at all until the 2027 season.
The thought was always that 2026 may be a bit of a redshirt year regarding Jones’ recovery, which is perhaps why his representation pushed for a 2-year deal from the Colts—and received it.
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Coming off the Achilles tear, Jones hasn’t looked as physically explosive rushing the football outside the pocket and appears to not be stepping into his throws in the pocket as routinely, which has contributed to his noticeable lack of arm strength when throwing downfield.
That being said, you have to play confident in the pocket to be successful at the pro level, so at a certain point, this cannot continue for the Colts to realistically make the playoffs. Jones has to play stronger in the pocket.
When the best thing that Colts fans can say about Jones during last Sunday’s loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers is that “he didn’t turn the ball over,” that’s not exactly a ringing endorsement for a starting quarterback who’s 29-years-old and is firmly in the midst of Year 8 playing in the NFL. Jones may have not lost the Colts the game last weekend in Pittsburgh, but he didn’t win it for them by any means either.
He’s not carrying this offense any time soon right now.
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If the Colts collectively continue to underwhelm, and Jones is consistently playing around average league starting quarterback play, neither hurting, nor helping the Colts win football games, at one point, would you consider pulling the lever for Richardson? Week 12?
At that point, longtime general manager Chris Ballard and head coach Shane Steichen are likely in the final fight for their jobs, and maybe, at that point, they’d heave a Hail Mary out of desperation?
Turning to Richardson again to save their floundering season?
At that point, you’d admit that Jones is not the starting quarterback answer here either, but if Steichen would lose his head coaching job in that situation regardless, what value does Jones even have coming back in 2027 without Steichen?
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In my opinion, a lot of Jones’ improved play and value to the Colts is tied to being paired with Steichen. If you take the latter out of the equation, does Jones even have value with a potential new coaching regime coming in?
(It would be a $35.2 million 2027 cap hit the Colts would have to absorb either way, but without a 2027 first round pick and a lack of free agent quarterback upgrades, they may be tied to Jones for another year).
These are all questions that have yet to be answered, but things should get clearer as the 2026 campaign progresses. However, Richardson returning to the Colts first-team offense as the starter over Jones isn’t quite as far-fetched as it once may have seemed only a few weeks ago, although nothing appears imminent.
