Anthony Richardson Aggravates Shoulder
Anthony Richardson Aggravates Shoulder Injury, Will Miss Spring
INDIANAPOLIS – Chris Ballard’s biggest question regarding Anthony Richardson has shown up again with the season still 3 months away.
Last Thursday, Richardson suffered an aggravation in the AC joint of his surgically repaired right shoulder during the team’s second 11-on-11 practice of the offseason, meaning he will miss the remainder of the spring offseason program. Richardson reported pain in his throwing shoulder following last Thursday’s practice and the Colts have decided to sit him for the rest of the spring offseason program.
“Stress over time,” is how Steichen described this aggravation for Richardson.
The Colts will report to training camp on July 22nd, with their first preseason game coming August 7th.
“We’ll see when he comes back,” Steichen said on Thursday. “They are not going to put a timetable for training camp on it. But when he does come back, we will ease him into throwing and then we’ll go from there.”
Based off that, the expectation is Daniel Jones should be viewed as QB1 when training camp starts, and perhaps even into August. The Colts regular season opener is September 7th.
Richardson first suffered the AC joint injury in his throwing shoulder back on October 8th, 2023, on a tackle from Harold Landry. The team decided for Richardson to have surgery on his shoulder a few weeks later. Some 20 months later, and this aggravation will sideline Richardson during a key part in his development.
Asked if it is common for an aggravation to occur nearly 2 years after surgery, the head coach was vague.
“Like I said, I don’t want to get into a whole bunch of detail on it…” Steichen said.
Injuries have sidelined Richardson for 17 of his 34 NFL games. That doesn’t include a substantial amount of practices missed, further hindering the development that was unquestionably needed when Richardson was taken 4th overall in 2023.
And this specific injury (aggravation) occurred with Richardson still in a red jersey, having yet to take a hit in 2025.
Without Richardson, the Colts have 3 healthy quarterbacks on their roster: Daniel Jones, Riley Leonard, Jason Bean. Steichen said the Colts will hold off on signing another quarterback for now. Leonard and Bean have yet to take a snap in an NFL game.
Any missed time for Richardson creates an inarguable advantage for Jones in this quarterback battle.
The Colts have 2 more OTA practices on Thursday and Friday. A 3-day minicamp next week will conclude the spring offseason program. The team will then be off until they report to training camp on July 22nd.
Back at the end of the 2024 season, Ballard said the biggest focus for Richardson needed to be his availability moving forward.
Part of the appeal to this 2025 offseason for Richardson was it would be his first healthy spring since entering the NFL.
And yet the 23-year-old quarterback suffered a setback in the biggest offseason of his NFL life before the calendar reached June.
