Colts Notebook: Season Over For Anthony Richardson Sr.
- Rookie Riley Leonard to start at QB, with undrafted Seth Henigan as backup.
- Anthony Richardson's lingering vision issues keep him out of season finale.
- Steichen's 2-9 record vs Texans/Jags is an ugly mark on his Colts tenure.
INDIANAPOLIS – Leave it to the final game of the Colts 2025 season to serve up another dose of quarterback questions.
The Colts (8-8), with their playoff hopes gone, will travel to Houston (11-5) to finish off their campaign, in a 1:00 PM kickoff on Sunday.
Here were takeaways from the Colts first on-field work of the week:
-Here’s the likely quarterback depth chart for the Colts in Sunday’s season finale: Riley Leonard (starting), Seth Henigan (backup), Philip Rivers (potentially the 3rd string/emergency QB), Anthony Richardson on injured reserve. That was the gist of what Shane Steichen laid out at his weekly Wednesday press conference. Henigan is an undrafted free agent who has yet to play in the NFL. He spent time with the Jaguars earlier in the year. The Colts signed him to their practice squad on Monday. As long as Henigan “gets up to speed” this week, he will be the backup on Sunday, according to Steichen. If not, then it will be Rivers, who is still hanging around the team this week.
-Knowing the importance of QB development for Riley Leonard, potentially needing him early next season and the uncertainty of the backup QB of the future, the Colts are going with their rookie in Week 18. Had the Colts not been eliminated from the playoffs, we are probably looking at Philip Rivers getting a 4th start.
-Shane Steichen did say on Wednesday that Anthony Richardson Sr. (eye) will not be activated off of injured reserve for Sunday’s season finale. Following two weeks of practice, Richardson explained some of the ups and downs he’s had in returning to practice. “Everything downfield, not going to be a problem. More so within a foot radius of my box, that’s the toughest part.” Richardson said he has had issues catching snaps in practice. Steichen said he had a long conversation with Richardson on Tuesday, with the continued vision limitations being the main reason why the Colts are not putting their former No. 4 pick on the field. That means the 2025 season for Richardson will be 14 total offensive snaps in 2 games played (0 starts), going 1-of-2 for 9 yards. His only completion was to himself. In what was a massively critical year for Richardson and the franchise, he didn’t win the starting job and then suffered a ”freak accident” in Week 6 that took him away from potentially saving the season when Daniel Jones torn Achilles. When asked on Wednesday about his future with the organization, Richardson said he hasn’t given that much thought. Richardson is under contract for the 2026 season, with the thought his lingering vision impairments should heal in 2026. “I don’t see anything wrong,” was Richardson’s response when asked about his standing within the organization. Will Richardson be with the Colts come September 2026?
-Are the Colts open to playing anymore young guys in Week 18, with the postseason not being possible? “Yeah, there will be some guys that we have been talking about and we will continue to talk about throughout the week. You’ll probably see some of those guys,” Steichen said. Who could some of those players be? Rookie D.J. Giddens (18 carries on the year, with 12 of them coming in the season opener) offering a breather for Jonathan Taylor? Will Mallory at tight end after he caught his first pass of the season last week? What about defenders? Jaylon Carlies, who has played 2 defensive snaps this season? I don’t see a lot of obvious names that fit Steichen’s description.
-Will Sauce Gardner (calf) play on Sunday. “We’ll see. He’s going to push this week but if he’s not 100 percent we will be smart there.” If Gardner does not, the 2025 Colts experience will be 4 games and 196 defensive snaps. He left the loss to Houston on the first series. And left the loss to Jacksonville early in the third quarter. In those 4 games, Gardner allowed 9 catches on 17 targets for 77 yards. Injuries have not been a big part of Gardner’s NFL career, but the calf ailment did cut his time with the Colts about in half. It goes without saying how massive of a 2026 campaign it’ll be for Gardner.
-Center Tanor Bortolini (concussion) does have a chance to play on Sunday. He will practice this week.
-With the season finale here, the annual question of “is this the last game” for Colts free agents brings up a notable list of players. Among the starters on the 2026 free agency list, you have QB-Daniel Jones, WR-Alec Pierce, TE-Mo Alie-Cox, TE-Drew Ogletree RT-Braden Smith, DE-Samson Ebukam, DE-Kwity Paye, LB-Germaine Pratt, S-Nick Cross. If you take it a step further, the Colts have a few vets getting up there in age entering contract years in 2026, in Michael Pittman Jr. Quenton Nelson, Grover Stewart, Jonathan Taylor, Kenny Moore II. Depending on who is calling the shots for the Colts in 2026, how this list looks in regards to the roster next fall could involve quite a few changes. How many must returns do you see on the unrestricted free agent list? Jones? Pierce? Anyone else?
-Probably one of the uglier notes on the Shane Steichen era, a 25-25 record so far, is his mark against the Texans/Jaguars. In 3 years, Steichen’s Colts have gone just 2-9 against those two AFC South foes, with one more game coming on Sunday. Beating those two teams has been a massive problem under Steichen. And we are talking about a Texans team that had a head coach hired the same offseason as Steichen. And the Jaguars have had two different coaches in the 3 years of Steichen at the helm.
-It will be interesting to see how the Colts approach the offensive game plan for Riley Leonard on Sunday. Is it more centered around his legs/dual threat ability that he showed in college. Or do they want to see his growth as a pocket passer? Facing the NFL’s top-ranked defense is no easy task in trying to accomplish that for the rookie. On Tuesday, Colts offensive coordinator Jim Bob Cooter shared his thoughts on where he’s seen the most growth from Leonard: “It’s been sort of one offseason phase at a time, through training camp, through preseason games. I would say there was quite a bit of growth just within those preseason games. If you looked at the Baltimore game all the way up through the Cincinnati game, the comfort within the offense, sort of managing the huddle, managing the line of scrimmage, managing communicating with his players, with his receivers – if he had to change something or communicate something. Shoot, even for a young quarterback, it’s as simple as making sure you’re on the same page with the official when you’re starting the next drive or when you’re coming out of a TV timeout. Those are things all young quarterbacks have to learn. Riley (Leonard) got better at a lot of that, and the better you are at some of those procedural things, the less you have to worry about it. The more you can just go play football, which is what he likes to do, and what he’s good at, what he’s done so well – why we drafted him, why we’re excited about him. So, he’s done a nice job of preparing to get better within the role that he’s been asked to have each week. Like I said, through the offseason, through training camp, all that stuff – he comes into the office, he puts in a great day’s work. He takes a ton of notes. He’s got a certain sort of way he reminds himself or quizzes himself on those notes. And shoot, when he gets his opportunity out there, whether it’s a practice or a walk-thru or a game or whatever it’s been, he wants to make sure that he’s prepared so that his teammates can count on him and he can go execute his role. He’s done a nice job of that.”
-One footnote for Week 18, Jonathan Taylor (1,559 yards) is 47 yards behind Buffalo’s James Cook (1,606 yards) for the league’s rushing title. If Taylor can win it, it would mark the 2nd time in his career he has taken home the title. You do have Derrick Henry (1,469 yards) and Bijon Robinson (1,445 yards) lurking. The Taylor run game has been a total 180 here in the second half of the season. Let’s look at the Taylor yards per carry numbers during the 7-1 start: 3.9 (win), 6.6 (win), 6.0 (win), 4.5 (loss), 3.9 (win), 5.9 (win), 5.9 (win), 12.8 (win). And then the Taylor numbers in going 1-7 heading into Week 18: 3.2 (loss), 7.6 (win), 3.6 (loss), 4.0 (loss), 3.5 (loss), 3.5 (loss), 2.9 (loss), 3.3 (loss).
-Currently, the Colts are in the 18th position of the 2026 Draft, with that pick heading to the Jets. Full draft order will be set after this weekend’s game, but the Colts first pick in the draft is sitting at No. 49 overall right now. The Colts hold these 2026 picks: 2nd round, 3rd round, 4th round, 5th round, 6th round (compensatory pick), 7th round, 7th round (compensatory pick).
