According to The New York Times Jim Trotter,Indianapolis Colts general manager Chris Ballard, who typically remains fairly quiet in-season (deferring to his head coach), didn’t mince words when quoted regarding some national media members’ poor public treatment of Anthony Richardson following his recent two-game benching:
“I was so upset at the bullshit that was said after we benched him,” Ballard said. “Are people that clueless? They were saying he’s a bust, that he’s done. I told our local people, ‘We’re not done with this guy.’ Nobody believed it. To watch him these last three weeks, I couldn’t be more proud.”
Ballard reiterated that Richardson is still only 22-years-old, and is a work-in-progress that is ‘working to get better at all the things that he needs to get better at.’
For those keeping score at home, that is just past the legal drinking age limit, and he still would’ve been a senior in college—had he stayed all four years at the University of Florida.
He remains one of the youngest starting quarterbacks in the entire NFL.
In fact, it was Ballard, who admittedly indicated that it wasn’t all just Richardson, and that it may have been the Colts who also first failed him in some respects by not initially ‘redshirting’ him during his rookie season with Indianapolis:
“Looking back on it, I wish we hadn’t played him as a rookie,” Ballard said. “John Dorsey (a longtime personnel man) called me and said, ‘Don’t play him.’ John had had the great wisdom from Green Bay, where they sat all those quarterbacks (Aaron Rodgers backed up Brett Favre for three seasons, and Jordan Love sat behind Rodgers for two years). And as they mature and get older, they pick up habits that we were expecting Anthony to have from the get-go.”
Granted, it’s revisionist history, as the Colts did hold a quarterback competition between former Pro Bowler Gardner Minshew and Richardson during 2023 training camp—which the latter earned the job outright by showing his obvious upgrade in talent and ability.
However, looking back, it’s possible that Richardson could have benefited from an initial ‘redshirt year,’ while also maybe being surrounded by a more experienced veteran quarterback such as I don’t know, Andy Dalton? (Even with Matt Ryan’s price tag being arguably too high to warrant retaining in such a role). It worked out for Andrew Luck and former 3x NFL Pro Bowler and NFC Champion Matt Hasselbeck early in #12’s career.
Point being, that Richardson drew much more heavy criticism than was really warranted—and it wasn’t entirely all of his fault.
There were a lot of national media folks and even some members of the Horseshoe Faithful who were quick to label him a ‘bust’ following the benching and the infamous ‘tap-out’—and really attempted to pile it on out there—without truly taking into account his inexperience and relative naivety to the starting NFL quarterback position.
Right now though, Richardson is proving his doubters wrong, and turning his general manager into a bit of a potty mouth in the process—having come back stronger than ever.
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