What Colts' Anthony Richardson wants to improve amid competition with Daniel Jones

Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated is among the NFL insiders who believe that free-agency signing Daniel Jones will defeat 2023 first-round draft pick Anthony Richardson in the competition to determine the Indianapolis Colts' 2025 Week 1 starting quarterback this summer. 

On Tuesday, Richardson spoke openly about how he has attempted to improve different aspects of his game throughout offseason workouts. 

"I’m still working through that, trying to be consistent and keep building on what I worked through this offseason when it comes to footwork stuff and not panicking in the pocket," Richardson explained, as shared by Joel A. Erickson of the Indianapolis Star and ESPN's Stephen Holder. "Being comfortable and letting my arm work...Everybody knows I can throw the ball whenever [the pocket] is smooth, but I want to find opportunities for myself to be consistent when I am off-balance, make decent throws, and even when everything is perfect, making sure my feet are intact and my base is solid." 

While Richardson's undeniable athletic gifts helped him become the fourth overall choice of the 2023 draft, he has thus far failed to impress as a pro. In total, injuries have limited him to just 15 starts over a possible 32 career games. Additionally, he was benched for a pair of contests this past November after he took himself out of a game because he was "tired." 

When on the field, Richardson completed just 50.6 percent of his passes across the past two seasons. Per Pro Football Reference, he finished the 2024 campaign ranked last in the NFL with a 61.6 passer rating and a 36 percent passing success rate. 

"This year," Richardson added, "we were working through mechanics, not necessarily re-defining my mechanics, but tweaking it a little bit, making sure everything was smooth." 

Jones' New York Giants tenure was filled with more downs than ups, and his injury history could lead one to believe he won't stay healthy for 17 games if he enters September as Indianapolis' QB1. An ideal situation for the Colts would likely involve Jones' presence in the quarterback room bringing the best out of Richardson from now through the team's final preseason game. 

"I'm looking forward to learning a lot from him," Richardson said about Jones, a 2019 first-round pick. "He's been in the league for a good minute, had ups and downs throughout his career. So I'm looking to learn as much as I can from him while we just push this competition to just get better."

If Richardson doesn't look much better in August, it's possible he'll never again take a regular-season snap for the Colts before they make him available to other teams.