Will the Indianapolis Colts trade Anthony Richardson? Bleacher Report’s Gary Davenport wrote an article about one player each NFL team should consider trading before the 2025 season. He listed Richardson for the Colts:
“Yes, Anthony Richardson was a top-five pick in the NFL draft. Yes, Richardson is built like a fullback and has arm strength to spare. To say he’s wildly athletic is an understatement. Unfortunately, he’s also wildly inaccurate—last year he completed a woeful 47.7 percent of his passes. He’s injury-prone—Richardson has missed more games in two years than he has played in. His decision-making hasn’t been good, either—Richardson has more interceptions than touchdown passes. His passing success rate of 36.0 percent ranked dead last among qualifying quarterbacks in 2024.”
Things haven’t gone right for Richardson. But that doesn’t mean the Colts will let go of him just yet.
Indianapolis Colts Urged to Trade Anthony Richardson
Disappointing Start to His Career
The Colts had a miserable 2022 season. They finished with a 4-12-1 record that year. Matt Ryan, Sam Ehlinger, and Nick Foles each started at quarterback, but none of those guys were the answer.
Looking for a franchise QB, the Colts then selected Anthony Richardson fourth overall in the 2023 NFL draft. The former Florida Gator was supposed to become Indy’s best quarterback since Andrew Luck retired in 2019. Unfortunately, that hasn’t been the case so far.
Richardson missed all but four games as a rookie due to injury. Last season, he was expected to have a Comeback Player of the Year-type of campaign. However, he battled injuries, was benched temporarily, and struggled to throw the football accurately.
Richardson did have a few impressive moments, though. He had a game-winning touchdown run in Week 11 against the New York Jets. Then, in Week 13 versus the New England Patriots, he orchestrated a 19-play drive capped off with a two-point conversion.
Will the Colts Trade Him?
Davenport stated that the Colts likely won’t trade Anthony Richardson:
“The Colts probably won’t trade Richardson. His salary isn’t prohibitively expensive, Chris Ballard doesn’t want to admit how badly he whiffed on this pick, and odds are the offers he would receive aren’t great. But if the Colts did get a reasonable offer for Richardson, they should take it and let some other team figure out what Indy already knows.”
That is true. Richardson certainly won’t be traded before the 2025 season unless the Colts get a crazy offer. And that’s just not going to happen.
Dealing with a shoulder injury, Richardson will not participate in the Colts’ upcoming mini-camp. Yet, he should be ready to go for training camp.
Richardson will compete with Daniel Jones for the Colts’ starting quarterback job. It’ll be an interesting battle between two former top-10 picks. Richardson could beat out Jones and go on to have a breakout season. He’ll, of course, have to stay healthy and improve his accuracy quite a bit. But if he struggles yet again, 2025 will likely be his last season in Indianapolis.
So yes, the Colts could trade Richardson next offseason. But there’s no way it will happen before the upcoming season. The team will give him one more chance to prove himself.
Main Image: Kelly Wilkinson – USA Today Sports
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