Decision day.
The Indianapolis Colts have finally made the decision at who will be starting quarterback for the team heading into 2025.
The man who is going to be taking the team is Daniel Jones, the former New York Giant beating out current incumbent Anthony Richardson to take the role.
This is a big call from head coach Shane Steichen, who has a lot riding on it. Both he and General Manager Chris Ballard are definitely on the hot seat after presiding over two rather mediocre seasons.
Although to be fair, coach Steichen is currently sitting on a record of 0.500 through his two years in charge of the team.
Problem position
The quarterback position has been a constant source of angst for the man, though.
After selecting Anthony Richardson fourth overall in 2023, in his first real statement as the new head coach of the Indianapolis Colts Richardson has never really had a consistent run of games.
Having gone down with injuries and also a lack of form, which caused him to be benched during the last season.
This led to the team bringing in Jones to compete with Richardson for the starting role ahead of the new season, and it’s a role that he now appears to have won.
Fan reaction
I am not sure how this is going to go down with fans overall. From what I could see looking through social media, the vast majority still really believe in Anthony Richardson.
A recent poll on the social media site X by a local journalist saw a whopping 91% favouring Richardson as QB1. It appears that he retains the majority of the fans support.
The fan base was sold a dream that Richardson would be the man to take them off the quarterback carousel that they have been on ever since this sudden retirement of Andrew Luck back in 2019.
It appears, with the team reverting to Daniel Jones, that they are straight back onto that carousel.
Now, I personally have nothing against Daniel Jones. I think he is a good NFL quarterback, and I think that he will do a decent job leading this team.
When appearing on the AFC South HuddleUK podcast episode, I made the prediction that Jones would win the job. That was largely down to my thought process that coach Steichen craves some consistency in the role, that he obviously feels Jones can offer.
What next for Richardson?
I do think that the team have given up on Richardson too quickly. You also have to wonder where that leaves him.
He really has got all the physical attributes you could want from a starting quarterback in the NFL. Undeniably, he has had to learn a lot on the job. There have been a lot of bumps in the road, staying healthy, being one of the bigger ones.
Coach Steichen will now be hoping that Daniel Jones will bring a level of consistency to the role. It is a huge call from the coach. This is a huge year for him and he has now made his decision.
As a fan, although not the decision I hoped for, I will now be supporting it fully in the hope that team can have a winning year – and hopefully make the post season!
