Anthony Richardson, a 21-year-old rookie, will be the starting quarterback for the Indianapolis Colts in their Week 1 game against the Jacksonville Jaguars. The Colts picked him as the fourth overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft. He made his debut in a preseason game against the Bills last week, which the Colts lost 23-19.
However, he impressed many with his running and passing skills. CBS and ESPN ranked him as the sixth-best debutant and the sixth-best quarterback in the NFL, respectively. The Colts’ head coach, Shane Steichen, decided to choose Richardson over Gardner Minshew, a 27-year-old veteran, and Sam Ehlinger, another 24-year-old who played last season.
Colts name Anthony Richardson starting QB for regular season. pic.twitter.com/7SOHMKIyB2
— NFL (@NFL) August 15, 2023
Richardson was born in Miami and played college football in Florida before joining the NFL. He signed a four-year contract with the Colts worth $33.99 million, including a $21.72 million signing bonus. He will earn an average of $8.50 million per year. His base salary for 2023 is $750,000, plus the signing bonus.
“I just started working my tail off every day,” Colts starting QB, Richardson exclaimed. “I didn’t want to come here and make it seem like everything was handed to me because it definitely shouldn’t be.”
The Colts will have to pay him the full amount of his contract even if he does not play, which is called the “dead cap value.” The Colts’ cap hit for him in 2023 is $6.18 million.
In the previous season, the Colts made four changes to their starting quarterbacks. They transitioned from Matt Ryan to Sam Ehlinger in Week 8, then reversed back from Ehlinger to Ryan in Week 10. Subsequently, they switched once more, moving from Ryan to Nick Foles in Week 16. Finally, the Colts made their fourth change, shifting from Foles to Ehlinger in Week 18.
Anthony Richardson’s astonishing performance metrics
On August 12, in his first NFL preseason game against the Bills, he completed seven out of 12 passes for 67 yards and ran twice for seven yards in one quarter. He showed his potential as a dual-threat quarterback who can both pass and run the ball. Fans are looking forward to seeing him play in the regular season games.
Richardson is a tall and strong quarterback, measuring 6’4″ and weighing 244 lbs. He can run fast, clocking a 40-yard dash time of 4.43 seconds. The 21-year-old played four games in his first year at Florida in 2020, then eight games in 2021, and 12 games in 2022. He threw for 3,105 yards and 24 touchdowns and ran for 1,116 yards and 12 touchdowns in his college career.
General Manager Chris Ballard said they would be patient with Richardson’s first game when the Colts started their training camp on July 25. They wanted him to be ready. As of now, Coach Steichen has not revealed if Richardson will play this coming weekend or how much, depending on how he does in practice this week. But the Colts should be happy with how he is doing so far.