Colts name Daniel Jones starting quarterback over Anthony Richardson Andy BackstromAugust 20, 2025 at 2:32 AM The Indianapolis Colts named Daniel Jones their starting quarterback Tuesday. Jones had been in a trainingcamp competition with Anthony Richardson, the Colts' 2023 No.
- - Colts name Daniel Jones starting quarterback over Anthony Richardson
Andy BackstromAugust 20, 2025 at 2:32 AM
The Indianapolis Colts named Daniel Jones their starting quarterback Tuesday. Jones had been in a training-camp competition with Anthony Richardson, the Colts' 2023 No. 4 overall pick who started 11 games last season.
Both Jones and Richardson have seen snaps in the Colts' two preseason games, with Jones completing 17-of-32 passes for 245 yards, and Richardson going 8 of 14 for 94 yards.
The Colts signed Jones to a one-year contract in March after he was benched and then released by the New York Giants last November. He spent the rest of the 2024 season with the Minnesota Vikings but didn't see the field.
Colts head coach Shane Steichen told reporters Tuesday that his decision to go with Jones isn't just a Week 1 arrangement.
"He's the starting quarterback for the season," Steichen said. "I don't want to have a short leash on that."
Like Richardson, Jones is a former top-10 pick. The Giants selected him No. 6 overall out of Duke in the 2019 NFL Draft. He took Eli Manning's spot as Giants QB1 that season and went on to spend six years with the team, only making the playoffs once in that span.
Although he won a wild-card game against the Vikings in 2022 — Brian Daboll's first season at the helm in New York — and then signed a four-year, $160 million deal, neck and ACL injuries cost him most of the 2023 season. And when he was on the field that year, his play regressed as he went just 1-5 as a starter. His struggles carried over to 2024 when he went 2-8 and threw only eight touchdowns. He was ultimately demoted to third string, with Tommy DeVito replacing him under center.
Jones then asked for his release from the Giants, who honored the request, allowing him to pick a new team to finish out the 2024 campaign. Looking for a reset, Jones landed with the quarterback-friendly Vikings and watched as Sam Darnold, a New York Jets castaway, polished off a 14-win season in Minnesota.
Jones, who tossed 70 touchdowns against 47 picks while going 24-44-1 as a Giants starter, is hoping for a career revival like Darnold's now that he has the starting job in Indianapolis. He beat out a still-inexperienced signal-caller in Richardson, who was drafted out of Florida for his tantalizing dual-threat potential.
Indianapolis Colts quarterbacks Anthony Richardson and Daniel Jones had been in an open competition before the team made its decision Tuesday. (Justin Casterline/Getty Images) (Justin Casterline via Getty Images)
But Richardson's first two seasons with the Colts were marred by injury. He missed 17 games, and he never played more than four games in a row. This preseason, the 23-year-old didn't see a blitz coming and suffered a dislocated right pinkie finger because of it — that play and routine throws he's missed over the past two years have signaled that his development as a quarterback hasn't gone according to plan.
While Richardson has posted an 8-7 record as a starter, his 11:13 touchdown-to-interception ratio is concerning, and so is the league-worst 47.7% completion percentage he recorded last season.
"You guys heard me talk about the consistency, and that's really what I was looking for," Steichen said Tuesday, via The Athletic.
"Really the operation at the line of scrimmage, the checks, the protections, the ball placement, the completion percentage, all of that played a factor in [the decision]. I think Daniel did a great job [being consistent], and I think AR has made strides in that area, but I do feel he needs to continue to develop in those areas."
Source: "AOL Sports"
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