Anthony Richardson will begin the 2025 NFL season on the sideline.
The young quarterback, entering his third year in the league, couldn't win the Indianapolis Colts' starting QB battle. Daniel Jones came to town and took the gig, making Richardson a backup.
It doesn't have to mean the end for a talented quarterback, but it's a bit frustrating, to be sure.
ESPN's Jeremy Fowler provided some further insights in a new article on Thursday into why Richardson and his side might be annoyed by how this has all played out:
"Part of his camp's frustration is that all parties acknowledge patience would be required when Richardson was draft. "He entered the league with one year as a full-time high school starter and one year as a starter at Florida. He has admitted publicly that his leadership and maturity were not up to par in 2024, which contributed to his in-season benching. But despite that, Richardson is 8-7 as an NFL starter, including two fourth-quarter comebacks late last season. He also worked on improving his regimen, leadership, mechanics, diet and ability to layer short-to-intermediate throws, resulting in improvement in camp that ultimately wasn't enough to win the job."
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There is definitely a shorter leash with QBs on some teams these days than there used to be.
Guys like Peyton Manning and Troy Aikman famously struggled early in their careers.
That's not to say Richardson is one of them. But those guys weren't benched after a few rough games, and they had much longer college tenures as starters than Richardson.
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Fowler added insight that Richardson has not requested a trade, but that the topic was brought up during offseason conversations.
The Colts might still give Richardson a chance to start later in the season. But for now, it's Jones' job, and Richardson doesn't have much choice but to watch and wait.
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