Anthony Richardson is still getting hammered for his infamous tap out, and his subsequent benching released the trade wolves across the NFL. It seems unlikely the Indianapolis Colts would deal the former first-round pick, but here are the best trade destinations if they shock the NFL and trade him.
With the trade deadline a couple of days away, the Colts reportedly have no plans to trade Richardson, according to indystar.com. The NFL trade deadline is 4 p.m. ET Tuesday.
What NFL team wants Richardson? That may be the better question. He’s been awful this year, completing only 59 of 133 passes for a JUCO backup-like percentage of 44.4. Also, he has almost doubled his four touchdown passes with seven interceptions.
Would the Giants be interested in Colts’ QB Anthony Richardson?
Giants quarterback Daniel Jones has struggled to live up to his first-round status. And there would be some history on the Giants side here as Brian Daboll got his first head coaching opportunity by helping change Josh Allen from a 52%-completion quarterback into the one of the game’s best players. Allen profiles as a somewhat reasonable comparison to Richardson in terms of size and athletic ability.
Another possible destination would be Carolina. The struggles of Bryce Young have been well-chronicled. The Panthers picked Young ahead of Richardson in the 2023 draft. But would a new general manager and head coach have a different opinion.
Panthers’ head coach Dave Canales said Young showed some promise in Week 8, according to charlotteobserver.com.
“I thought he had some excellent drives,” Canales said. “I thought he had some excellent throws in there. The offense will be the first to tell you there were some things all across the board in the run game and the pass game. We’re just asking Bryce to do his one part of it, and I thought he did a pretty good job of that today.”
Canales then gave Young a chance to start in Week 9 ahead of Andy Dalton. Canales said Young earned another chance, according to Sports Illustrated.
“I'm excited for Bryce to have another opportunity to build on things we talked about, to continue to just grow and get that experience that we talked about is invaluable to get on the field and calling the plays.”
So the Panthers wouldn’t seem to be all-in on another quarterback project at this point.
Are the Las Vegas Raiders in the mix?
Their quarterback situation doesn’t look great with Gardner Minshew being the best option, and young quarterback Aidan O’Connell not highly regarded.
Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce said Minshew needs mental work, according to nbcsports.com.
“He’s got to get out of his own head,” Pierce said. “I mean, he’s a quarterback, he’s been in this league, he understands it. Obviously, we’ve encouraged him. Very positive on the sideline with everything that was going on yesterday. Our team was like, no blinking. That’s all he kept hearing on the sideline dealing with adversity.”
What about the Cleveland Browns?
They will likely part ways with Deshaun Watson after this season. They will likely incur a historically large dead cap hit for Deshaun Watson, so the Browns could look to push some of their draft compensation for Richardson to 2026. Having Richardson on a rookie deal for two seasons before deciding on his fifth-year option would be a nice head coach Kevin Stefanski in the wake of the Watson disaster.
If Richardson gets moved out of Indianapolis, he likely needs to land in a place that can run the football. It seems almost certain he could not develop in a system that expected him to be a high-volume thrower at this point in his career. Of the teams mentioned here, the Browns may be the best fit. The Browns like to run the football anyway, and Richardson would fit well into the place they were developing for Watson.
Anthony Richardson not living up to billing
If the Colts trade him, it would go against the organization’s promise to allow Richardson to learn on the job. The idea seemed to be Richardson could grow by getting game reps.
Richardson seemed to be blindsided by the news of his benching, according to indystar.com.
‘I was like, wow,” Richardson said. “I’m using this moment as an opportunity to grow and just learn from my mistakes.”
If the Colts decided to cut bait with Richardson, they may look to get even a bigger deal than the 49ers got from the Cowboys for Trey Lance. The Cowboys surrendered a fourth-round pick. That deal came in Lance’s third season when he lost the jobg to Brock Purdy.
One big difference here is the Colts don’t have a player like Purdy. They have 17-year veteran Joe Flacco, who may not even be in the league next season.
Colts linebacker Zaire Franklin expressed his support for Richardson.
“I still believe he's the future of this team,” Franklin said. “I know that sounds crazy to everybody right now, but that's something I still believe, that he's the future of the Indianapolis Colts.”
Some teams still view Richardson as an NFL-caliber quarterback, according to post on X by Jordan Schultz.
“Sources: Teams have inquired with the #Colts about the possibility of trading QB Anthony Richardson, who was benched this week, though a trade is considered unlikely. Several teams I spoke to still view Richardson as a franchise-caliber quarterback, and view Indy pulling the plug on him after 10 regular season starts as “premature.”
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