Three-time Super Bowl champion offers advice to Colts' Anthony Richardson Sr.

As had been expected for some time, it was learned on Thursday that the Indianapolis Colts had decided to decline the fifth-year option for 2027 attached to the contract for quarterback Anthony Richardson Sr. 

During a Thursday appearance on the "Pro Football Talk Live" program, three-time Super Bowl champion and current NFL analyst Devin McCourty shared some advice for Richardson regarding the fact that general manager Chris Ballard recently acknowledged that other teams don't seem all that interested in trading for the fourth overall pick of the 2023 draft. 

Anthony Richardson Sr. must try to improve despite his situation

"You have to show up and get better," McCourty directly said about Richardson. "As much as that sucks, knowing that your team doesn't really need you there and they kind of want to unload you somewhere, you have to have the mental focus to come in and say, 'I have to be ready because at any moment, I could be traded somewhere, and I could be in a new situation. And if I waste time being frustrated that I know I'm not going to play, that they don't really want to work with me, or whatever the case is, you just set yourself back for your next location.'" 

Ballard is all-in on allowing current starter Daniel Jones to show he can be the club's long-term answer at the sport's most important position after Indianapolis signed Jones to a two-year, $88M contract that could be worth up to $100M this offseason. While it's unclear when Jones will be able to return from the torn Achilles he suffered this past December, it also appears that Richardson has lost the Colts' QB2 job to 2025 sixth-round pick Riley Leonard.

Some thought before the 2026 draft got underway on April 23 that a team unable to grab a desired quarterback during the player-selection process could take a flier on Richardson. As of the first day of May, no such club had emerged. 

Anthony Richardson Sr. is learning that life isn't always grand

McCourty noted that fans don't have to worry about their job statuses making local and national headlines. 

"That's a normal thing that we have in the NFL," McCourty added, "where a guy's on a trading block, and he just has to show up and go to work. And in [Richardson's] case, he better go to work, and he better learn as much as he can still learn from (head coach) Shane Steichen, who's obviously been a good offensive coordinator and good game planner in this league. He has to continue to do that work."

It remains to be seen if there's anything Richardson can do to receive a fresh start from a different team before the 2026 season gets underway.