Anthony Richardson has had a great spell since the NFL Scouting Combine earlier this year as he saw his draft stock soar thereafter. His outings at the combine and at Pro Day helped him become the fourth overall pick of this year’s draft, plus he has quite an arm.
The young quarterback has been leaving great impressions at every turn, yet a recent report has cast doubt over his immediate future as it suggests he is not ready for the starting job at Indianapolis.
The Colts also signed Gardner Minshew during the offseason with a view to having him operate as a stopgap QB, with Richardson obviously the player owner Jim Irsay wants to carry the franchise over the next several years. While there’s plenty of optimism surrounding the youngster, James Boyd, a reporter covering the Colts for The Athletic, suggests he’s been wildly inconsistent in practice.
“I think the biggest factor in Richardson starting Week 1 will be improving his consistency during training camp and preseason,” Boyd wrote in a recent mailbag. “As I’ve previously written, Richardson would often make the best throw of rookie minicamp, OTAs and veteran minicamp, but his overall performance was turbulent. That will need to change in order for him to take the reins in the season opener.”
Boyd has predicted that the team will split the reps between Richardson and Minshew early in training camp, but that things will change if Minshew is the more consistent of the two.
The Colts aren’t expected to achieve anything of note in 2023. Still, they would like to line up as best they could. They will also be wary of potentially hindering Richardson’s development by rushing him.
