Colts rookie QB Anthony Richardson announced as starter for regular season

Indianapolis Colts head coach Shane Steichen announced on Tuesday that rookie quarterback Anthony Richardson will be the team’s starter for the regular season:

Having already started this past weekend’s preseason opener, things were certainly trending in the right direction that Richardson would eventually be named the starter outright—although this official announcement may have come a little sooner than thought.

Having made significant strides throughout training camp—and shown some clear flashes of his athleticism, growth as a passer, and immense potential during preseason Week 1, it was pretty much a foregone conclusion that Richardson would ultimately take the starting reins—unless he showed a clear ‘deer in the headlights’ look, which he fortunately didn’t.

Long-term, it also doesn’t serve the Colts any good to start Gardner Minshew, who while certainly remains a top NFL backup and capable starter, isn’t the franchise’s future at the position. Quite frankly, Richardson needs the experience and the meaningful game day reps—as he only started 13 games collegiately at the University of Florida.

There will assuredly be some growing pains, particularly regarding Richardson’s short to intermediate accuracy in the passing game. That being said, continuously starting him places the Colts in a much better position for tomorrow than they were yesterday.

In that sense, it’s a new era of Colts football in Indianapolis, and hopefully the team finally found its franchise quarterback again—after a few long years of positional purgatory.