Former Florida Gators quarterback Anthony Richardson was named the backup to Daniel Jones for the Indianapolis Colts to start the 2025 season. The two QBs had been in a battle for the starting job, but it also felt obvious which way the battle was going to go, especially after Richardson took a crunching sack to open preseason play.
And while Richardson still has a sky-high ceiling that Jones could only dream of, this fork in the road for Richardson's young NFL career also isn't surprising to anyone who paid attention to him at Florida.
Anthony Richardson to start 2025 as a backup
The problem for Richardson in the NFL has been the same concerns we here at Hail Florida Hail expressed back in 2022, when it was obvious he was going to declare for the NFL Draft:
Accuracy.
We wrote back in November of 2022 that:
"And while Gators fans were mostly happy with Richardson's performance this year, that doesn't mean there aren't some major red flags for the next level.
The biggest is that he simply isn't accurate enough on short to intermediate routes to sustain drives with enough consistency. How many times this year did we see Richardson sail a five yard-route or throw a screen pass into the dirt?
Richardson finished the year with a completion percentage of 53.8%, which doesn't even sniff the top 100 completion percentages in FBS this season. His nine interceptions however were the 28th most in the country and his interception rate of 2.8% (he threw an interception on 2.8% of his passes) is also towards the bottom of the country."
Since joining the NFL, those same problems have plagued Richardson. He was the least accurate QB in the NFL last season among the 47 players who had at least 100 dropbacks.
His 12 INTs were 4th most in the league, despite only playing in 11 games in 2024.
This isn't to pile on Richardson, but the reality is that he simply wasn't ready for the stage he was given. After sitting behind Emory Jones in 2021, Richardson got one full season as a starter before taking off for the NFL. That 2022 season was filled with some incredible highs, but also some very real lows that seemed to get glossed over.
And even though it seems like the Colts gave up on Richardson early, the reality is that, entering year three, he had yet to show in the preseason any sign of growth. Even when he went viral this past weekend, he still finished his outing 6/11 for 73 yards and a sack.
It's hard to blame Richardson for leaving when he did, considering he is guaranteed $33 million even if he never takes another snap in the NFL.
But if his goal is to have a long career in the NFL as a starting QB, he just lost his spot in line and is going to need someone getting hurt or someone just being terrible to get back to the front of the line.