Former Gators QB Anthony Richardson renamed Indianapolis Colts Starter

Former Florida Gators and Indianapolis Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson is reportedly returning to the starting role for the remainder of the season.

Adam Schefter reports this that in addition, the Colts “are confident they have not given up on him.”

Colts head coach Shane Steichen also noted, “He has seen Richardson progress over the past two weeks.”

The Colts benched Richardson following the 23-20 loss to the Houston Texans on October 27. In a surprise decision, Richardson took himself out of the match because he was ‘tired’.

It didn’t help that he went 10 of 32 (31.3%) for 175 yards with a touchdown and an interception in that game. But even if the Colts said this wouldn’t affect their decision, it’s hard to believe it didn’t. Poor performance and then taking yourself out of the game for some baffling reason are two things that would get you benched together.

Richardson has completed just 59 of his 133 pass attempts (44.4%) so far this season, with four touchdowns against seven picks and 958 passing yards. When he entered the game on October 27, he had not had a touchdown pass in more than a month.

During his two games as starter, Joe Flacco wasn’t bad, but he didn’t perform well enough to keep Richardson on the bench for the rest of the year.

The Colts lost both games and Flacco threw a combined two touchdowns to four interceptions in those games. The fortunes didn’t change with the aging former Super Bowl MVP, so they must have figured they had to give Richardson the playing time.

At the very least, he has the deep ball going for him.

Richardson was the fourth overall pick out of UF less than 18 months ago. In his only full season as a college starter he completed only 53.8% of his passes and had 17 touchdowns to nine interceptions. Additionally, he had nine rushing touchdowns.