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The post-Andrew Luck era has not been kind to the Indianapolis Colts.
Luck announced his shock retirement just prior to the start of the 2019 season.
Since then, Indianapolis has made the playoffs just once and has started three different quarterbacks (Jacoby Brissett, Carson Wentz and Matt Ryan) in their opening games of the season.
But now the Colts are hoping to put that behind them.
Indianapolis used the fourth pick of the 2023 NFL Draft on Florida Gators quarterback Anthony Richardson. Richardson is 6-foot-3, 232 pounds and can throw ball through the ozone layer.
However, he’s still fairly new to the quarterback position and is expected to take time to adjust to the NFL.
Colts owner Jim Irsay, however, doesn’t appear all that interested in allowing him that time.
Irsay was a guest on the Pat McAfee Show on Monday and said that the organization has to find a way to get Richardson on the field in 2023.
“For Anthony Richardson, it’s going to be tough. We know that,” Irsay told McAfee. “But he has to play to get better. I mean, there’s no question. Gardner [Minshew] could come out and obviously play better early on just being a veteran, but we have to get Anthony on the field. That’s Shane [Steichen’s] call when he decides to do it.”
To his credit, Irsay did say he expects Richardson to struggle even if he does start over Minshew. He compared the situation to that of Peyton Manning in 1998. Manning started 45 games at Tennessee and went No. 1 overall in the 1998 NFL Draft.
Irsay said that Manning “was really prepared as much as he could be for the league” but the Colts still went 3-13 during his rookie year. Manning threw 26 touchdown passes but also a league-high 28 interceptions as a rookie.
But hey, it seemed to work out for both sides. Maybe Richardson can do the same type of thing in Indy.