Colts GM Chris Ballard reiterated this week that his team will seek competition for QB Anthony Richardson ahead of the 2025 season. Richardson, of course, opened his second season as Indy's starter, got benched for Joe Flacco, returned to the lineup, and then missed the final two games with a back injury. Indy now seems poised to add stronger competition than Flacco this offseason.
SI.com's Jake Arthur: "This offseason, they intend to be more deliberate in adding someone ... who can legitimately compete with Richardson for the starting role."
Ballard: "It's gotta be the right guy to create real competition, but we wanna create real competition. I think it's good for the team. I think it's good for Anthony. It'll be open. And, of course, it's gotta be somebody that can really challenge from a production standpoint, too."
More from Ballard: "Last offseason, Anthony spent a lot of time rehabbing, so now he can focus on just training and developing and getting better fundamentally, which will be fun to watch. ... There's things he'll continue to need to work on when he's with us. But I have a lot of faith in the guys he's training with."
Realistically, the free agent market doesn't seem to present many options. Sam Darnold's almost certainly priced out of Indy's range. Matthew Stafford, Aaron Rodgers, Kirk Cousins, and Russell Wilson might be as well.
Lower-priced candidates who might actually challenge for the job could include (in no particular order):
Cousins might be in play in the same way Wilson landed with the Steelers last year. The veteran will still be making plenty of money from his ridiculous Falcons contract. So he might be willing to take less to chase opportunity.
Adding starter competition via the draft would be tough, unless Indy finds an experienced college guy it likes in Round 2.
We're still betting on Richardson hitting Week 1 as Indy's QB, but the competition will certainly be worth watching through summer.
Richardson's interesting as a cheap buy in dynasty right now -- if you can get him at a low price.
The upside obviously remains because of his rushing ability. But if Richardson can't stick as Indy's starter this year, it'll bode ill for his future.
Don't chase him. But I'd give a look if the Richardson manager in your league just wants out.
Richardson's even more intriguing for best ball drafting right now. He's sitting just QB21 in best ball ADP on Underdog Fantasy. That's down from the QB5-7 range in 2024 drafting.
The weekly upside hasn't changed. Just the job stability.
I'm mixing in Richardson as QB2 into my best ball drafting at the dramatically reduced price. That upside looks especially attractive right now, when I'm usually rostering three QBs on my 20-man rosters.
We'll see whether summer competition affects that outlook.
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