The Indianapolis Colts announced that Anthony Richardson will start the 2025 season on the bench. In light of this, the former fourth overall pick’s career is at risk.

At the time of the 2023 NFL Draft, many believed that the Indianapolis Colts made a risky decision to draft Anthony Richardson. He was incredibly talented, but lacked experience and playing time in college. Thus, this experiment was going to be boom or bust. Unfortunately, after two years, it would appear that the Anthony Richardson experiment is trending towards being a bust. That is, unless Richardson can show that he has grown, matured, and developed into a franchise quarterback. The question, though, is if he will have an opportunity in 2025 to prove himself and if he does, will he rise to the occasion.

Both scenarios are contingent upon the production of Daniel Jones. There is a lot of optimism in the Colts front office surrounding Jones and the hope is that he will work out. After all, he is the Colts Week 1 starter, and for the health of the franchise, it is advantageous that Jones succeeds for years to come in Indy. If this ends up being the case, then Anthony Richardson’s days in Indy will be numbered. Therefore, there is a clear conundrum.

Anthony Richardson Was a Big Investment

There is no question that when a team drafts a player number four overall, that team has a vested interest in that player. This is the case for Anthony Richardson. Going into year three, the Colts still have faith that Richardson can be a great player. However, with him starting the season on the bench, it could very well be the case that Richardson ends up having a career somewhere else.

Ultimately, this was a fear for Chris Ballard and is the reason why he drafted Richardson so high, knowing that his experience was low. In his 2023 NFL Draft Press Conference, Ballard said that they did not want someone else to acquire Richardson. Instead, they wanted his talent on their team. Thus meaning that the Colts understood that he has tremendous upside and needs time to develop. In 2025, his growth and developing days in Indy might be over if Daniel Jones succeeds.

Anthony Richardson Is On the Hot Seat

Along with the Colts investing in Richardson for the last two years, the Colts are essentially putting him in a tough situation as he cannot control his own destiny anymore. Now, starting the season on the bench, Richardson just has to hope that he can get a chance to play. If Jones ends up succeeding with the Colts, Richardson will probably request a trade to try and play somewhere else. If Jones ends up failing, then the Colts are right back where they’ve been for the last two years. This would be a team with an inexperienced quarterback still trying to develop.

Although the Colts made the right decision in starting Daniel Jones, this does pose as an unfortunate situation for Richardson. Where he goes from here is strictly up to the production of Jones and then, if given the chance, his own production. All around, this unfortunate conundrum was brought by the Colts themselves and they must lie in the mess that they have created. Let’s just hope this mess doesn’t turn into a monster that they cannot get out of. Namely, the monster of not being able to find a franchise quarterback.