NFL Insider Tom Pelissero: Don’t Count Out Anthony Richardson as an NFL Starter

Rich moved Tom Pelissero to the most important position on the field and one of its most frustrating recent stories: Anthony Richardson and the Indianapolis Colts. Is anything ever going to happen with this guy?

Pelissero's answer was not a dismissal. There is some level of interest, he said, even with the questions. One of those questions is literally about Richardson's sight, after a freak accident last year in which a resistance band broke and snapped him in the eye. Pelissero, who called that his own worst gym fear, was quick to frame the upside too. There are not many 6'5", 250-pound players with howitzers for arms walking the earth.

The film, admittedly, is thin. Richardson may be a 40-something percent career passer at this point, Pelissero acknowledged, but there were moments, the big plays down the field, the running near the goal line, that explain why people keep believing.

Then came the context that reframes everything. Pelissero pointed out that Richardson started roughly four games as a rookie and got hurt in three of them, and never should have been the Week 1 starter in the first place. He laid the blame on circumstances: the late Jim Irsay came out publicly in training camp and essentially declared Richardson the starter, which forced the team's hand. Richardson probably needed to sit. He had only about 13 starts in college at Florida, Pelissero noted, so he simply had not played much football and needed to develop.

Now he gets that time, even if Pelissero understands the player's frustration after a run of injuries that includes an AC joint sprain, the eye, and a concussion. Before anyone trades something real for him, Richardson may need to get back on the field and show he is healthy and can see it normally again.

Pelissero's larger point was about patience. Richardson's story, he said, has not been written. He put him in a bucket with players like Trey Lance and even JJ McCarthy, who performed at a high level in college. Different situations, Pelissero said, but a shared pattern: players with obvious ability whose first two years were wrecked by injuries and circumstance, leaving you unable to evaluate them fairly. Richardson was the number four pick for a reason, and the Colts have no incentive to give him away or release him.

So the path forward is modest but real. Pelissero anticipates Richardson could open training camp as the third-stringer, with Riley Leonard likely the number two behind Daniel Jones, who is himself working back from an Achilles injury. That makes the spring reps genuinely important. Come in, show what you can do, Pelissero said, and let's see what it looks like on the other side.