MARCH 2: Richardson does not have a strong trade market at this point, SportsBoom’s Jason LaCanfora reports to no surprise. NFL general managers and evaluators predicted Richardson’s value would be a Day 3 pick, with a fifth-rounder mentioned as the potential best-case scenario from the Colts’ perspective.
FEBRUARY 26: Signs continue to point to Anthony Richardson playing elsewhere in 2026. The embattled quarterback has requested a trade, James Boyd of The Athletic reports. 
To little surprise, ESPN’s Stephen Holder adds the Colts have given Richardson’s camp permission to seek a trade. The former No. 4 pick’s value will not be particularly high given how his NFL career has played out so far. Nevertheless, the lack of established QBs on the market this offseason could lead to at least some interest.
When speaking at the Combine yesterday, Colts GM Chris Ballard offered praise for Richardson. The 23-year-old has only made 15 starts and 17 appearances during the regular season so far. An orbital bone fracture kept Richardson sidelined through the end of the 2025 campaign, although Ballard said he has now been cleared for football activities. Boyd confirms Richardson has regained full vision in his right eye.
That will be a welcomed development for all involved, but it remains to be seen how many teams will be willing to proceed with a trade acquisition in this case. In December, a trio of NFL staffers pegged Richardson’s value at a fourth-round pick (the cost paid by the Cowboys when they acquired Trey Lance). A deal along those lines would obviously represent a massive disappointment for Indianapolis, but it would pave the way for Riley Leonard to handle backup duties in 2026. Of course, the Colts are in the midst of negotiations on a new Daniel Jones contract to ensure he remains atop the depth chart moving forward.
As for potential Richardson landing spots, Cameron Wolfe of NFL Network points to Minnesota as one to watch. He reports there is a mutual interest between the Vikings and Richardson. Kevin O’Connell has established a track record of quarterback development during his time as Minnesota’s head coach, and taking on another reclamation project would make plenty of sense. Given J.J. McCarthy‘s struggles so far, the Vikings are expected to bring in competition under center this spring.
That could entail pursuing a more experienced option on the open market like Kirk Cousins or Derek Carr. Alternatively, the Vikings could look at Richardson as a buy-low candidate capable of winning the QB1 gig for 2026 while McCarthy develops. Richardson has one year remaining on his rookie contract and he is set to carry a cap charge of $10.82MM in 2026. A trade would essentially create an even split of that figure between cap savings and dead money for the Colts.
Richardson makes no sense for the Vikings unless a backup to an experienced guy and trading JJ. Richardson has not proven anything and has actually regressed rather than improve over his short time.
Makes no sense for any NFL team. Maybe the USFL or WFL or whatever it’s called these days.
He can hand it off to Csonka and try to throw it to Warfield………
Don’t forget lobbing it to Mercury Morris out of the backfield and handing it to Jim Kiick at the goal line. Hopefully Yepremian won’t miss the extra point.
I’m sorry but why do you think he could develop Richardson if he hasn’t been able to develop McCarthy.
I came here to say the exact same thing.
Because McCarthy and Richardson are two different people? It’s usually on the player, not the coach.
The 49ers couldn’t develop Trey Lance but they developed Brock Purdy. The Vikings helped Sam Darnold improve but can’t develop JJ.
I think AR is a bust too, but just because JJ sucks doesn’t mean KOC can’t develop someone else.
Can’t develop JJ? It’s been 10 games and he’s flashed some brilliance at times.
I mean sure it’s early, he could improve. But he was the worst starting QB in the NFC last year by a pretty wide margin, except for Brosmer of course. It’s pretty rare for someone to be that bad and then develop into something useful, especially with all the advantages JJ has had developing in elite programs since 9th grade.
And he’s already been hurt like 4 times.
MB81, what’s your definition of brilliance?
Offensive player of the week not enough?
Come on man. That offensive player of the week was a joke even at the time. He was 13/20 for 143 yards, 2 touchdowns and 1 INT, with 2 carries for 25 yards and 1 rushing TD.
That’s a “flash” as I said. I didn’t say HOF career. I said flash and I was correct.
You said he had brilliant moments, then tried to use his player of the week award as proof of said brilliant moment. If you think 168 total yards is brilliant because he had 3 touchdowns in the 4th quarter, that’s fine, but it’s nonsense.
He didn’t have a single game all season that suggests he’s worth spending any more time on.
Yes. He was brilliant in the finish of the game he won POW. How could he not have been? Go watch some YouTube breakdowns by Warner or Daniels and you’ll see you are plain wrong. It’s been 10 games. You don’t dump a top 10 pick who was the youngest QB in the NFL after 10 games. Don’t be obtuse
Nothing he did was brilliant. If you want to have a new head coach next off-season and waste another season of Jefferson’s prime, you keep JJ.
Josh Allen is the only starter that was this bad and became a star for the same team quickly. And he had terrible coaching until the NFL, the opposite of JJ.
Josh Rosen was a top 10 pick too. He’s on that path.
PFF has indicated Vikings receivers dropped around 12–15% of McCarthy’s catchable passes, which would be one of the highest rates in the NFL this year.
And those same recievers didn’t have the same issues with other QBs…sounds like a JJ problem.
Those are on catchable balls. These are professional WRs. What is he throwing, knuckle balls? Catch the damn rock. 15% over 10 games of throws is big.
This is a JJ issue, clearly. They didn’t drop passes anywhere close to the same rate with Darnold the year before, Cousins the year before that or even Wentz last season. He has no touch.
Your standard for, “briliance”, is a bigger joke than 9.
I think it’s his ability to create defensive highlights.
Who’s gonna trade for him?
Nobody because it will be cheaper to just wait until the Colts cut him.
Richardson would be perfect as a backup/goal line QB and a running specialist as long as a team has a good veteran starter. Pairing him with McCarthy will just have KOC looking for a new job next off-season.
Running specialist? He literally gets hurt every hit. He only looks physically imposing.
His injuries are less of an issue as a backup. He’s literally the best or 2nd best rated running QB every year he’s played. If he’s having 3 carries a game at the goal line, he’s not getting hit every play like he does as the starter.
And if he does get hurt, oh well. He’s just a gadget/backup in this scenario. He doesn’t need to be protected like a franchise QB.
Goal line QB?….. I love that idea. Not necessarily for richardson but – I think your on to something here.
The Saints kind of did it with Taysom Hill for awhile, although he obviously had a bunch more uses.
Would I be the only one here to be surprised if the Colts get anything as strong as a fourth round pick for him?
I think that’s probably a good guess, maybe with a late swap going out too. AR and a 7th for a 4th or something. Sam Howell got traded essentially for a 5th round pick twice last year, and he’s never been good and was a mid round pick. I would think AR’s value is at least at the Sam Howell level, even with his poor play so far.
Sam Howell completed 63.4% of his pass attempts in his one season as a 17 game starter, and threw for nearly 4,000 yards. Richardson’s completion percentage was 47.7 when he saw his most extensive playing time in 2024. I wouldn’t see him as anything more than a practice squad candidate.
Richardson threw for 1,814 yards in 11 games, but that was in just 264 attempts. Howell’s 3,936 yards were in 612 attempts. If Richardson gets 612 attempts at his same rate, he throws for 4,205 yards. He also had 500 yards rushing in those 11 games and 6 rushing touchdowns, while Howell ran for 263 and 5 touchdowns in 17 games.
Howell’s completion percentage was better but still bad, and Richardson was by far more dynamic/explosive. It would be shocking to me if AR had less value than Howell.
I don’t think that the two compare directly at all. They’re way different stylistically, and their offenses were as well. Richardson definitely has better big play ability, and hurling it to the league’s leader in YPC with possibly the best back in the league probably helps with some of the deep throws. Howell is certainly more precise, but is the very definition of a gunslinger. He takes wayyy too many chances to capitalize on any momentum he builds in drives. While he can run on schedule better than Richardson, it’s not by much. Really, neither inspire a ton of confidence right now, but they’re still young enough to present some potential to somebody.
Richardson wins in the athletic department, which is huge, but he has just as huge an asterisk of limited availability. I think that impacts his value a ton relative to Howell. I wouldn’t draw any direct comparisons to them stat-wise, though. Way too different as players, and a ton of supposition on Richardson’s part to extrapolate a whole season’s worth of stats in my eyes, which makes the limited picture less useful as a gauge.
AR has value as a backup in a limited role, and his athleticism will mean teams give him more chances to develop. Howell was so bad for Minnesota last training camp/preseason they signed Carson Wentz off the garbage heap.
I don’t think either AR or Howell will play much more in their careers, but there’s no way Howell’s value is higher than Richardson’s. We’ll find out when he gets traded in the next 2 months.
They won’t even get that. For a project with a high likelihood of uselessness, his pay of $5.38m in 2026 is not terribly appealing.
At this point just acquire him to become a RB, might actually get some value
Gonna go out on a limb and say the 6’4 guy whose career has been derailed by not avoiding contact would not be a good running back.
He gets hurt anytime he has contact…no rb or te or Taysom Hill packages.
Richardson is not a McVay/Shanahan/O’Connell type of QB. They want someone accurate who processes quickly and plays on time. That is the opposite of what AR brings to the table. They don’t need a rocket arm and/or elite athleticism.
I can’t see much teams biting trade wise. As a release and sign piece? Maybe jets Vikings or cardinals take a flier
Best fit for him is the Packers. They’re one of the few teams that actually sticks to their guns when they decide actually *develop* a QB. Richardson could sit behind Love for a handful of years while the coaching staff tries to grow Richardson into a solid starting QB. Then, if Love decides to move on down the road, they have Richardson in their back pocket. If Love re-ups with the Packers, they can see about trading Richardson… or keep him, but they’ll have that flexibility. If Richardson doesn’t pan out, no harm no foul. Packers are gonna need a backup now anyways with Malik heading out in free agency.
Yeah, good call. When Willis briefly saw the field for Tennessee, he looked even rawer than Richardson has.
Who would give two cents for Anthony “Bounce Pass” Richardson? The guy stunk up Ben Hill Griffin Stadium so bad they had to fumigate the place after he left. I might take a chance on him if he switched to wide receiver, but no way is he an NFL quarterback. All the defenders have to do is watch his eyes to see where he’s going to throw it because he will watch his primary receiver run his entire route. He has no accuracy when he does throw the ball, and it’s normally 5 yards short. Indianapolis really screwed up because there was plenty of tape on him and his expertise. He made everyone around him look bad because he seemed to have no idea what he was doing. He might make a passable wide out, but he’s never going to make a great QB
Indianapolis really screwed up because there was plenty of tape on him and his expertise.
=======================
He probably still wouldn’t be any good, but the Colts decision to start him game 1 of his rookie year, was terrible. He barely even played in college.
That’s the thing, though. Richardson needed to play. He was going to be bad in any case, but his issue is that he just never had the starting experience to even learn how to have good habits on field (such as how to pick the safe play, or to stay focused under pressure, or to recognize a defense pre-snap, or any number of things). Studying would probably have helped, but he had limited starts in college, and as such had/has to go through those growing pains in the NFL-which is much less forgiving, and much easier to fail in.
Only thing better than one QB who can’t throw a 20 yard pass: two QBs who can’t throw a 20 yard pass
It bends the line of reality to read that Richardson handed in a trade request when Indianapolis told him to find a new club.
I hope Green Bay doesn’t trade for him, we’re gonna need somebody good to replace Malik Willis. He pushed himself to improve after getting dumped off for so little. I just can’t see Richardson doing that if he’s already that inaccurate & not really improving. We need somebody that can actually play & move the ball downfield.
He could compete with Love for the starting job. Might be worth a look.
he still has that tantalizing raw potential tag .. if only the right coach could pull the potential out of him .. whose lining up to try and do the coaxing ? think we’re about to find out his potential will remain raw no matter whose the coach
I know Trey Lance’s 4th round pick is considered the comparison for Richardsons return but I would expect something more along the lines of Justin Field’s 6th round pick that would conditionally elevate to a 4th round pick based on games started or some other benchmark.
His career was over the second he pulled himself out of the game for being “tired”
He is an absolute physical specimen, but a 50.6% career completion rate is turbo mega dog $#!t.
He had an 8/12 TD/Int in 2024, with a 47.7% completion rate, and still managed to be an AP.
UFL
Pittsburgh? Learn behind Rodgers and taught by one of the more underrated qb developers in MM.
Let him and Will Howard battle it out the whole year behind the scenes and see who is ready?
7th Round pick?
“I can fix him”
Packers should be interested, one would think.
Bears trade Tyson Bagent and a 2027 5th to Arizona for their 2026 2nd and then Bears trade their 2026 7th for Richardson.