The Indianapolis Colts didn't have a plan for Anthony Richardson so much as they had a concept of a plan.
Drafted fourth overall in 2023, Richardson needed on-field reps to develop his raw potential. The Colts and the rest of the league knew it. Ten starts later, and with the league's worst completion percentage, he has been benched for veteran Joe Flacco.
Sources who spoke to CBS Sports describe Richardson's benching as twofold. First, the on-field results were not showing a clear, linear and mature development for the 22-year-old quarterback, and there were unanswered questions about why things weren't clicking. Secondly, it reveals a schism between a general manager who banked his job on getting this pick correct and the coaching staff trying to win with that pick.
Multiple sources referred to preparation issues. Coaches spent hours away from the practice field working with Richardson this season, and the results were not showing up on the field.
His laughing admission after Sunday's loss that he tapped out of the game due to exhaustion was viewed as "the last straw," according to one source. But it wasn't the key determining factor in his benching.
The locker room was hardly mutinous, sources say, but it was clear to coaches that Flacco offered the team the best chance to win. It's possible the profile of "Sunday Night Football's" contest against the Vikings played a significant factor in the decision this week, too.
"You couldn't have him go into a nationally televised game and get crucified by Minnesota," said one source referring to the blitz-happy scheme of Brian Flores that ranks first in interceptions and 10th in opponent passer rating.
When Richardson returns to the lineup is unclear. His benching is indefinite, with head coach Shane Steichen saying this week that Flacco is the starter "going forward." The next four opponents for the Colts all rank in the top-11 in the league in points allowed per game.
Richardson played in and started 10 games. He accounted for 12 total touchdowns and 11 turnovers. His six fumbles this season (including two lost fumbles) are tied for the league lead despite missing 40% of the team's offensive snaps this year.
According to Next Gen Stats, Richardson had league-low completion percentages on passes when not pressured (48.1%), under pressure (38.9%), not blitzed (50.5%), blitzed (26.5%) and to open targets (62.1%). His 48.1% completion mark on passes when not pressured is nearly 20 percentage points lower than the next qualifying passer.
Coming out of Florida, there were concerns about Richardson's injury history. He started in only 13 games in college before entering the draft. He suffered a season-ending throwing shoulder injury last year and, of the 10 NFL games he's started, he has finished six of them.
Sources also lamented Richardson's absence from the team facilities last year as he recovered from his shoulder surgery. The team had hoped he would spend more time there during the season than he did, and some believe that has led to a lack of development in Year 2.
"More than anything, this shows the disconnect between the college game and the professional game," one NFL GM said this week. "And for every C.J. Stroud and Jayden Daniels, there are going to be your quarterbacks that take time to develop."
General manager Chris Ballard & Co. appeared to believe this from the start. Richardson's tantalizing talent outweighed concerns about his lack of experience.
"He's got to come in and earn his way like every player we bring in. Let's not expect him to be Superman from Day 1," Ballard said the night Indianapolis drafted Richardson. "I think history has shown there's not many of them that are Superman from Day 1. Some of them it takes two, three years to become a really good player.
"We've got to let these guys develop and play. They're going to have some struggles and then they've got to work through the struggles and eventually, their talent, the more they play, their talent will come to life."
Everyone from Tom Brady on down has talked both about the lack of quarterback development and the quickness NFL teams employ with giving those players the boot. Perhaps no one has said it better than Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell: "I believe that organizations fail young quarterbacks before young quarterbacks fail organizations."
Which has taken place in Indianapolis is hard to determine at this point. It's a franchise that preached patience for Richardson 18 months ago, but it's also a franchise that will raise a banner if you make the NFL's final four.
The decision to draft Richardson was a collaborative one with Irsay, Ballard and Steichen. But in a draft with Bryce Young and C.J. Stroud, Richardson rose above all to the person with the most power in that building.
"If we had the first pick in the draft we'd probably take Anthony," Irsay told reporters after the draft. "That's how much we liked him."
"I always felt like Richardson was going to be the guy we went with, early on."
What many around the league struggle with is how the plan for Richardson has been dashed so quickly. Steichen took ownership of Richardson's benching this week, and sources believe that the coach making that call indicates some degree of misalignment between the general manager and coaching staff.
"What are you really playing for? The playoffs to keep your job? If you win nine games and don't get the playoffs, it was a wasted season," one high-ranking team executive said. "If you get to the playoffs and lose, it's still a waste of your organization's future. If you're more worried about your job and job security, is this really helping? Because you're going to relive it next year. That part of it doesn't make sense to me. It feels very shortsighted.
"You're going to have to endure the pain. You want it now or later. You've committed the fourth pick to the pain."
Ballard is 58-64-1 as GM, with four winning seasons out of the seven completed years. He has two playoff appearances and one victory. The quarterback selected to be the franchise's savior in the post-Andrew Luck years just got benched indefinitely. The Colts, despite being 4-4, are 1 1/2 games back (plus losing the tiebreaker to Houston) for the AFC South division.
Ballard is now in his eighth season as general manager, taking over in 2017 for the fired Ryan Grigson. He dealt with being left at the altar by Josh McDaniels by hiring Frank Reich, and then signed a five-year contract extension through the 2026 season after a successful 11-5 campaign in 2020. Despite Ballard's protestations, Irsay hired Jeff Saturday as an interim coach before Ballard helped ink Shane Steichen ahead of the 2023 season.
In the time since Ballard took over as general manager, the Texans, Titans and Jaguars have all won the AFC South title at least twice. Ballard has yet to win it once.
Now, his career-defining draft pick has been benched, and a best-laid plan has gone awry.
