There was a time when Anthony Richardson was seen as the savior of the Gators. Dan Mullen notriously was stubborn to give Richardson the reigns and it wasn’t until Billy Napier came to town that Richardson got his shot. In his one full year as the starter for Florida, Richardson flashed all the traits that made him so hyped, but underneath the surface there were some very real flaws with Richardson’s game.
The Indianapolis Colts ignored those flaws and took Richardson No. 4 overall in the 2023 NFL Draft. Fast forward three years later, and it looks like the Colts have some to the very same conclusion that we warned about back in 2022 as the Colts are declining their 5th year option on Richardson’s rookie contract.
Colts turning down 5th year with Anthony Richardson
We here at Hail Florida Hail aren’t perfect and there are certainly takes that we get wrong, but our prediction of Richardson unfortunatly was dead on.
Back in November of 2022 we wrote that Richardson wasn’t ready for the NFL and we stated at the time that:
“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.
That simply won’t get it done in the NFL, where the worst percentage in the league is Zach Wilson at 55.6%. Even the “running” QBs in the league like Lamar Jackson and Kyler Murray are still north of 60%.”
Sure enough the ultimate downfall of Richardson in the NFL has been his accuracy. He has a career completion percentage of 50.6% and he has 11 passing TDs against 13 interceptions. He has ten rushing touchdowns and 634 career rushing yards in the NFL, but his ultimate nail in the coffin has been his inability to stay healthy.
In 2023 he had a concussion and later was knocked out for the year after season ending shoulder surgery. In 2024 he missed games due to hip, foot, and back issues. This past season he had a shoulder issues during OTAs, messed up his pinky after a brutal sack that was mostly his fault, and then he suffered one of the more fluke injuries ever when he had an orbital fracture during pregame warmups.
So even though Richardson is entering his fourth season and this fifth year option isn’t until 2027, the Colts have decided they have had enough. The writing was on the wall when the Colts gave Daniel Jones a two-year, $88 million extension last month.
So as of now, Richardson will be an unrestricted free agent after 2026.
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