One day after the Indianapolis Colts announced that Daniel Jones had won the team’s starting quarterback job and relegated Anthony Richardson, the No. 4 pick in the 2023 draft, to the bench, Colts quarterbacks coach Cam Turner was non-committal on a question as to whether Richardson failed the Colts or if he had been failed by the organization. Turner tried to toe a fine line, ultimately avoiding a definitive statement on if one party was to blame or if there was blame to share.
“As a position coach, you want to see your guys succeed and be successful, naturally,” Turner told reporters Wednesday in Indianapolis. “I feel like I’ve tried everything I can do, and I feel like he’s given great effort in that aspect too. I don’t think either way it’s one or the other. I just think right now, the consistency is just not where we want it to be.”
Richardson losing the Colts’ quarterback competition despite his draft billing put a spotlight on his lack of development over the past two years, as his immense physical talent coming out of the University of Florida has not translated into consistent performance at the NFL level. While injuries have been an issue for Richardson, so too has been his performance as a passer — he has completed just 50.6% of his passes, including 47.7% in 11 games a year ago. His conditioning and work ethic have also been scrutinized.
The selection of Richardson with the fourth pick had been the crux of the plan of Colts coach Shane Steichen and his staff entering their third year in Indy as they try to rebuild the Colts into a winning team and give the franchise the stability at quarterback it has lacked since injuries forced Andrew Luck into early retirement. Instead, the team is now pivoting to Jones, the former Giants quarterback who signed a one-year contract with the team in an effort to rebuild his career after injuries of his own.
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With the Giants, Jones had been lauded for his professionalism and work ethic, which eventually paid off in him leading the franchise to their first playoff victory since Super Bowl XLVI. When speaking of Jones, Turner lauded the Colts starting quarterback’s decision-making and how he’s been consistent in knowing how to execute the team’s offense.
“The ball’s in the right spot at the right time, and he’s proven it through the spring, OTAs, through training camp,” Turner said. “It’s just the consistency. You know what you’re getting, you trust the decision-making, and then the accuracy has been very good.”
Steichen, when announcing the decision to open the season with Jones, also leaned on “consistency” as the key factor.
“You guys heard me talk about the consistency and that’s really what I was looking for,” Steichen said Tuesday. “Really the operation at the line of scrimmage, the checks, the protection, the ball placement, the completion percentage. All that played a factor in it. I think Daniel did a great job doing that, and I think [Richardson] has made strides in that area, but I do feel that he needs to continue to develop in those areas.”