{"id":242252,"date":"2025-08-14T09:00:39","date_gmt":"2025-08-14T13:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=242252"},"modified":"2025-08-14T06:36:32","modified_gmt":"2025-08-14T10:36:32","slug":"can-colts-anthony-richardson-and-daniel-jones-prove-their-doubters-wrong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2025\/08\/14\/can-colts-anthony-richardson-and-daniel-jones-prove-their-doubters-wrong\/","title":{"rendered":"Can Colts Quarterbacks Prove Their Doubters Wrong?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Indianapolis Colts quarterbacks Anthony Richardson and Daniel Jones<\/a> have both faced significant criticism throughout their careers. However, they could prove doubters wrong this season.<\/p>\n

Recently, The Athletic’s Mike Sando<\/a> put together his annual quarterback tiers.\u00a0To cultivate these tiers, Sando spoke with 50 NFL coaches and executives to get their opinions on Richardson and Jones:<\/p>\n

Jones and Richardson both landed in Tier 4 out of five possible tiers. Jones was No. 30 while Richardson came in at No. 32.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe’s a freaky athlete for his size, but he’s been hurt every year because of it,\u201d a defensive coordinator told Sando about Anthony Richardson. \u201cUnless he is rearing back and throwing the ball as far as he can and somebody runs underneath it, he’s not accurate and can’t make any of those throws.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI get nervous with Jones,\u201d an offensive coach told Sando. \u201cIf you are not very good on offense and cannot protect, there will plays when you look bad, but there are too many times where he has a guy wide open and he throws it in the dirt or 10 feet over his head. I just don’t think he is naturally accurate, and I did not think he was in college.\u201d<\/p>\n

Neither Richardson nor Jones is in the same tier as elite signal-callers like Patrick Mahomes<\/a> and Josh Allen. But don’t give up on them just yet.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Aug 7, 2025; Baltimore, Maryland, USA; Indianapolis Colts quarterback Daniel Jones (17) runs the offense during the second quarter against the Baltimore Ravens at M&T Bank Stadium.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Can Colts Quarterbacks Prove Their Doubters Wrong?<\/h2>\n

The Oft-injured Anthony Richardson<\/h3>\n

Ever since Andrew Luck<\/a> retired in 2019, the Colts have been searching for a franchise quarterback. Players like Carson Wentz and Matt Ryan weren’t the answer.<\/p>\n

Anthony Richardson, whom the Colts drafted fourth overall in 2023, was supposed to be the guy. But thus far, his career has been derailed due to injury. Richardson missed all but four games during his rookie season. Then last year, he dealt with injuries once again, was benched temporarily, and had a \u201ctap out for being too tired\u201d moment.<\/p>\n

When Richardson played last season, he struggled mightily as a passer. He completed only 47.7 percent<\/a> of his passes. Yes, that type of completion percentage simply won’t suffice as an NFL starting quarterback.<\/p>\n

Daniel Jones: From Contract Extension to the Bench<\/h3>\n

Daniel Jones entered the league in 2019, drafted by the New York Giants<\/a> sixth overall. Like Richardson, his career has been far from perfect.<\/p>\n

Jones did have a solid season, though, in 2022. That year, he passed for 3,205 yards and 15 touchdowns. He also rushed for 708 yards and seven touchdowns. More importantly, Jones helped lead the Giants to a playoff win.<\/p>\n

Jones\u2019 2022 season led to a massive $160 million extension. However, his career fell off a cliff after that. He tore his ACL in 2023. Then last season, Jones was benched and released by the Giants. He later signed with the Minnesota Vikings<\/a>, but never played a game with them.<\/p>\n

The Colts signed<\/a> Jones this offseason. He\u2019s currently competing with Anthony Richardson for the starting quarterback job.<\/p>\n

What Must They Do to Change Doubters\u2019 Minds?<\/h3>\n

Anthony Richardson hasn’t had a great career, but he can still turn things around in Indy. For that to happen, though, he must stay healthy. Richardson has been bitten by the injury bug already this year. He suffered a dislocated finger<\/a> during the preseason opener against the Baltimore Ravens. Thankfully, it wasn’t a serious injury.<\/p>\n

Richardson also has to improve his accuracy. There\u2019s no ifs, ands, or buts about it. If he can somehow stay healthy, improve his passing, and lead the Colts to the playoffs, Richardson will certainly change people\u2019s minds about him.<\/p>\n

Richardson is expected<\/a> to be the Colts\u2019 starter come Week 1 of the regular season. But due to injury or subpar play, Jones could wind up replacing him.<\/p>\n

If that’s the case, perhaps Jones can change doubters\u2019 minds by returning to his 2022 form. And he can gain a few fans by powering Indianapolis to the playoffs. 2025 should be an interesting season.<\/p>\n

Main Photo: Rafael Suanes-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While Colts quarterbacks Anthony Richardson and Daniel Jones haven’t had amazing careers, they can still turn things around in 2025.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4890,"featured_media":242430,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[36,12],"tags":[9564,4688,7800],"class_list":["post-242252","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl-news","category-colts","tag-anthony-richardson","tag-daniel-jones","tag-indianapolis-colts-news"],"modified_by":"Will Koshover, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242252","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4890"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=242252"}],"version-history":[{"count":69,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242252\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":242431,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242252\/revisions\/242431"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/242430"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=242252"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=242252"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=242252"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}