Daniel Jones is set to begin the campaign atop the Colts’ depth chart. Jones has won out the team’s quarterback competition, as first reported by NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero. The news is now official. 
Pelissero adds head coach Shane Steichen informed Jones and Anthony Richardson of the decision Tuesday morning. A call was expected in the near future, and one has indeed been made. Jones, a free agent addition, will serve as QB1 to begin the regular season while Richardson will operate as the backup.
Signs have pointed in this direction throughout the offseason, one in which Richardson has aimed to establish himself as Indianapolis’ passer of the present and future. Today’s news obviously marks a notable setback for the No. 4 pick in 2023’s draft. Richardson has battled injuries and inconsistency in the NFL, including missed time this spring and a dislocated finger suffered in the preseason opener.
When speaking publicly on the matter, Steichen has offered praise regarding Jones’ experience and his command of the Colts’ offense during practice and games. That helped lead to the expectation the former Giants top-1o selection would get the nod for 2025. With that said, NFL insider Jordan Schultz reports the Jones-Richardson competition was viewed as being “very close.”
Jones was retained via a four-year, $160MM contract in 2023, with the Giants inking him to the pact in time to apply the franchise tag on running back Saquon Barkley. Barkley departed on the open market last spring and enjoyed a record-breaking debut season with the Eagles. Jones, on the other hand, was unable to take a step forward in his fifth season as New York’s starter before ultimately being benched and then released.
A brief Vikings tenure did not result in playing time down the stretch. Jones, like Sam Darnold, departed Minnesota on the open market in search of a starting position with the team positioned to hand the reins over to J.J. McCarthy. Jones secured $13.15MM guaranteed on his one-year Colts contract, a strong indication he would have a path to the starting gig. As of June, the 28-year-old held a “significant” lead over Richardson.
Time with the starting offense was split in training camp, with Richardson managing to return to full health after his latest shoulder injury was suffered earlier in the offseason. The Florida product has played just 15 games in the regular season to date, and he was benched partway through last year. A decision will need to be made on the fifth-year option for Richardson, 23, after the coming campaign. This move certainly suggests it will be declined.
Steichen said on Tuesday (via Mike Chappell of Fox59) Jones is viewed as the starter for the entire 2025 season. A strong campaign would help his free agent value considerably, and finding success with Indy’s offense would no doubt serve as a benefit to Steichen and general manager Chris Ballard‘s job security. As the Colts look to end a four-year playoff drought, they will rely on Jones for what should be a lengthy period. In the event of an injury or poor play, though, attention will turn to the possibility of Richardson taking over.
Smart to just admit Richardson is a total bust and tank for a top pick next year to hopefully get the right qb. Jones isn’t a massive upgrade so they should try and lose as much as they can and it might not be viewed as purposeful tanking cause both qbs are awful.
Disagree regarding Jones….Giants fan here…..given the right atmosphere, he may not be HOF worthy, but he’s miles ahead in experience, capability, and QB smarts of Richardson who is nothing more than a big runner trying to play QB…..Danny Dimes probably can guide the Colts to 8-9 wins depending on how the rest of the team shakes out…..don’t see him short, he’s got guts, and ability…..the NY Press ate him up……
Chill on the ellipses
NY press hardly “ate him up” cos he got the Giants into the playoffs and helped them win a playoff game at Minnesota.
If you’re in Greater New York, mark your calendar for Week 4 as Fox is sending the Colts-Rams game to NYC that Sunday.
This mythical tough NY media that allegedly destroys QBs, lol. It’s like the West Coast teams losing going east thing, some made up s*** that fans tell themselves to justify suckitude.
Daniel Jones is terrible. He was drafted too high too, which is why Mara insisted on sticking with him. Everyone gasped when they made that dumb pick just like with Richardson. These people get made to make these terrible decisions.
I disagree. I think AR5 would be an ideal Tank Commander.
I think the colts season was done before it started with these 2 battling it out to start at qb. Jones has had 1 good season and it would be worst case if he can win 8 or 9 games cause that’s missing the playoffs or 1st round exit best case and a bad draft pick.
Yeah this move implies they want to try and contend. Weak division, they may be able to scoop up some wins and sneak into a wildcard, and it’s not like Jones has been a total bust. He could find his way back like Baker, Darnold and other guys who just needed the right situation.
If they wanted to tank, Richardson would be the guy.
His situation is very different from those guys. If anything, they gave him too long of a leash. Daboll did one of the greatest development jobs of all time with Josh Allen, but Daniel Jones just could never get it. He was most of the problem.
That’s a really unintelligent way to run a team. Football teams need a winning culture and winning habits.
Good thing I traded Richardson before my dynasty draft for the pick that became Cam Ward. Ward is a QB. Richardson is an athlete.
Richardson an “athlete”?…..is that someone who consistently gets hurt, asks to come out of games because he’s tired, and couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn with a football if his life depended on it….is that your definition of an “athlete”?
Athlete and quarterback are different
“A person who is trained or skilled in exercises, sports, or games requiring physical strength, agility, or stamina.” He’s probably pretty good at exercising. Maybe Twister, too. That requires strength, agility, and stamina. He’d probably get injured tho.
What a mess. Richardson probably always should have been on a Jordan Love type development plan with multiple years of sitting, but that was always going to be much harder to pull off with the #4 overall pick, and it’s definitely much harder to put the toothpaste back in the tube once you’ve gone the other direction. Jones means trading a higher ceiling for a higher floor, but Jones isn’t exactly the highest floor quarterback. Given his sack and fumble issues plus a first time starter at center could go sideways. But the supporting cast on offense is promising and I still believe in Steichen.
Once again, this feels like a team that could make a little noise with a better quarterback situation. How many years in a row is that for the Colts now?
“It’s All About The QB” makes zero sense when you’re in the AFC South.
The division where one team just hired a new coach specifically hoping to unlock their highly paid former #1 overall pick QB, one team just took a QB at #1 overall, and the third–and best–team in the division is building around their young star QB?
And that’s one of the things that has always bugged me about the Richardson situation. During draft build-up, the type of phrase that was universally applied to Richardson was “development project.” But Indy has treated him like he was someone ready to step into the role from day one. I mean, if a FO/coaching staff acknowledges a player is a development project, how fair is it to ask him to perform like a ready-made starter and judge him for that? They should’ve totally done the Jordan Love thing, had him ride the bench and learn from a veteran QB (or plural, as many as it takes), and in year three you see what Richardson has learned.
I’m not saying that Richardson would’ve worked out in the end, just that Indy sure as hell didn’t put him in a position to succeed. But that is the QB environment in the modern NFL. Back in the day, you drafted a QB in the first round, you made the commitment to three years to show you something real and the fourth year to hit a new plateau. Now, “years” is more like “games.”
Back in the day they didn’t have the same sort of rookie contract structure. Even the Jordan Love situation was tricky. They didn’t pick up his fifth year option because he had completed all of 50 passes before they had to decide on it. It’s hard to sit a guy for very long if you’ve invested highly in him, unfortunately.
In the Richardson case, I’m with you, but also understand that their logic at the time was that his biggest problem was not having enough game reps, so they wanted to get him more with a simplified game plan. We might look back on this differently if he hadn’t had injuries completely derail his opportunities to get good reps and development.
They never should have drafted him that highly. They were basically throwing something at the wall to see if it stuck because Ballard had fumbled the QB position so badly that led to Reich getting fired. When he came out, they compared him to Hurts, and imo, they both should have been fired on the spot if that was their evaluation of Richardson coming out. They couldn’t be two more different players.
I agree, but I’m not sure game reps are gonna help him with his accuracy. He definitely should have been sitting for the first year or two, with every spare second spent on developing his mechanics and footwork. That’s where his reps should be. Starting him right away and expecting him to improve his fundamentals on the fly was a mistake.
I think the Josh Allen experience made people change their mind about how possible it is for someone to fix accuracy, especially as an A+ athlete. But Allen is more exception than rule.
You just described why terrible franchises are terrible. Side note, Green Bay has had literally 30 years of continuity at the QB position because they’ve taken this approach, yet no other team has done it.
No one is truly shocked by this
As expected
6-11 here they come !
You’re more optimistic than me, lmao.
They won 8 games last year with atrocious QB play from AR. Jones playing like an average NFL QB will get them to at least 10. INDY has better OL, RB, and WRs than NYG did.
You have a lot of faith in Daniel Jones. He was a big part of why the Giants were so bad. Also, the Colt line isn’t very good anymore. It’s gone from a clear strength a few years ago to a liability. The only time he has played average was against one of the worst schedules in the league that playoff year. Otherwise, it’s been all bad. Drew Lock looked like prime Peyton Manning when they played the Colts last year ironically, lol. It was the best their offense looked in years.
Feels like this front office has been in “chicken with its head cut off” mode since Andrew Luck’s retirement
Imagine being as clueless as thinking that Daniel Jones is going to save your job, lol. That new owner lady is going to have the headset on a lot this year before she does the firings.
Irsay’s have always been running it like trash then tanked for Peyton and luck. Now they’re tanking for arch manning.
He’s not coming out this year. Next year either.
Money talks and the division is up for grabs.
They’re making way more in college than even the highest rookie deals. Texas has oil money on deck. What do you think Arch is going to be making the next two years if they’re successful? Forget about it. Plus, who wants to follow in one of the greatest QB’s footsteps the last 30 years who happens to be your uncle? Everything he does, he’d be compared to Peyton.