Colts Urged to Make Last-Minute Anthony Richardson Trade

Heading into the 2025 NFL season, Anthony Richardson's future with the Indianapolis Colts looks shaky to say the least.

The Colts coaching staff has now benched Richardson not once, but twice in the past year, seems committed to running with offseason signing Daniel Jones as QB1 for the season without a short leash, inevitably putting major question marks on just how much time Indianapolis' fourth-overall pick from two drafts ago will have in town.

The stage may even be set for a last-minute trade for the Colts and Richardson to part ways before year three kicks off. Especially in the event a team is willing to offer solid value to Indianapolis in exchange for their newly-named QB2, that package could be enough to entice Chris Ballard and Co., if they decide their experiment with the Florida product has truly met its demise.

SI's Karl Rasmussen recently outlined five select players around the NFL who could be ideal last-minute trade candidates before Week 1 kicks off, where Richardson found himself right in the mix as a strong contender who could be sent to a team intrigued to take a dart throw on his services.

"The Colts elected to roll with Daniel Jones over Anthony Richardson, who they selected with the No. 4 pick just three years ago," Rasmussen wrote. "If that's not a show of their lack of faith in Richardson, I'm not sure what is. If Richardson intends to continue his NFL career and get back to being a starter for a franchise that believes in him, his best bet may be to try to find a move away from Indy. His potential remains sky high, but largely untapped, and there may be some quarterback guru out there who still thinks they can unlock his upside."

There's still an immense amount of potential buried in Richardson's game, but that won't show itself as a QB2 in Indianapolis as a backup to Jones. In the event of a trade, the Colts could claim any last value they can get on their 2023 top-five pick, while also allowing Richardson that aspired opportunity elsewhere to a team looking for talent at the position.

As to what a return on Richardson could look like for the Colts, ESPN's Bill Barnwell sees a scenario where Indianapolis could land a fourth-rounder in next year's draft, comparable to how the San Francisco 49ers approached their Trey Lance trade to the Dallas Cowboys in 2023.

"Indianapolis general manager Chris Ballard might just decide a fresh start would make sense for all parties involved. In this scenario, the Colts would land compensation in line with what the 49ers received in 2023 for Trey Lance, a similarly frustrating former top-five pick who was traded away after two pro seasons."

Of course, a day three pick is far from a return that jumps off the page, but compared to some of the other similar quarterback deals we've seen in recent memory, it'd be a sound return.

Mac Jones was traded from the New England Patriots for a sixth, Justin Fields was traded from the Chicago Bears for a conditional sixth, and when Kenny Pickett was traded from the Pittsburgh Steelers, that was a fourth. In all likelihood, the Colts would have to settle for a similar return on their quarterback if a Richardson trade were the route they decided to go before Week 1 kicks off.