Riley Leonard Or Philip Rivers For Colts Season Finale?
- Steichen evaluating Rivers or Leonard to start at QB in Week 18
- Richardson dealing with ongoing eye vision limitations, unlikely to play
- Leonard's first career start could come against Texans' top defense
INDIANAPOLIS – Is the door open for a 4th Philip Rivers start in this 2025 season?
It appears that possibility is still open as Shane Steichen sifts through his starting quarterback decision for Sunday’s regular season finale in Houston.
From hearing Steichen, the debate is between Rivers once again getting the call or Leonard making his first career NFL start.
“Obviously, bringing Philip in to come here and play is what he wanted to do,” Steichen said on Monday afternoon. “He’s been playing and obviously there’s one left. Those are conversations that we are having with him to see how that goes. And that’s pretty much it. Getting a feel for him.
“And obviously Riley having an opportunity to play as well.”
Steichen said these talks will continue into Tuesday, with a decision coming then. The Colts return to work on Wednesday, with a walk through to start their final prep of game week for 2025.
Some have asked why Anthony Richardson Sr. isn’t more of a possibility. Currently, Richarson is dealing with continued right eye vision limitations, which might not heal until 2026, making it difficult to insert him back into an actual game setting, along with taking hits for the first time since the 2025 preseason.
“We’ll see on that,” Steichen said on Monday when asked about Richardson being a possibility for Sunday. “He still has the eye limitations and we just want to be really smart with that, to be completely honest.”
Long term, while Richardson is still under contract for the 2025 season, there are definite questions about if he will even be with the Colts past this year.
The Colts have benched Richardson twice. And the Richardson camp has expressed some displeasure with how things have been handled with the young quarterback. Is it time for both parties to agree this marriage could use a fresh start?
If the Colts go with Leonard in Houston, his only other extensive action came back on December 7th, when the 6th round pick out of Notre Dame filled in for an injured Daniel Jones in the first half. Leonard went 18-of-29 for 145 yards and an interception in that road game against the Jaguars, running for a touchdown in the 4th quarter.
Leanard’s first start would offer quite the opponent, facing the league’s top-ranked scoring defense still playing for a chance to win the AFC South (Texans need a win and a Jaguars loss to the Titans).
While that would be a less than ideal situation for Leonard, it could be beneficial as you peek ahead to 2026.
Depending on the Achilles recovery to Jones, it’s quite possible the Colts need a different quarterback in September.
Could that be Leonard?
With Brett Rypien having been claimed last week by the Vikings, the Colts are now back to having 4 quarterbacks in their building.
That’s Rivers and Leonard on the 53-man roster. Then on Monday, the Colts signed Seth Henigan to the practice squad. The 4th QB would be Richardson Sr. still on injured reserve entering the third and final week of him in his 21-day practice window. Richardson has practiced in a limited capacity in each of the last two weeks.
Henigan, a 2025 undrafted free agent out of Memphis, was the only other QB the Colts worked out earlier in December following the torn Achilles by Daniel Jones. The Colts didn’t sign Henigan though.
Mentee vs. Mentor.
That appears to be the final debate here in Week 18 as the Colts finish yet another season without a trip to the playoffs.
The Colts (8-8) will play the Texans (11-5) on Sunday at 1:00 PM.
