Chris Ballard made the Colts’ position on Anthony Richardson plain on Tuesday: the quarterback isn’t going anywhere.
After Richardson asked for a trade back in February and nothing came of it, he returned to the offseason program and has been in the mix with Riley Leonard for the backup job behind Daniel Jones. But Ballard said the organization has no plans to move him.
“He is going to be an Indianapolis Colt this year,” Ballard said in his Tuesday press conference.
Ballard also said Richardson, 24, has kept moving forward in his development. The general manager pointed to a pair of moments in camp that stood out, including a two-minute drill against New England and another during the Atlanta scrimmage.
“We forget how young he is sometimes. Really proud of his growth,” Ballard said.
“ There were two times in camp where I thought, OK, he’s starting to really show some poise. So the two-minute against New England, we’re backed up, I think it was 38 seconds left on the clock.
Gets us in field-goal range to give us a chance to get points. And then during the Atlanta scrimmage, he had a tremendous two-minute [drive] also.
“So, it’s been fun to watch Anthony’s growth.”
Ballard stopped short of saying whether Richardson will be the backup, leaving that call to head coach Shane Steichen. Still, Steichen has said Richardson is “in a good spot.”
The praise from Ballard didn’t stop there. He called Richardson “a phenomenal teammate” and stressed how the quarterback has handled everything, even after losing the job last year.
“He’s a phenomenal teammate - and I don’t use that word lightly,” Ballard said. “Like, he is a great teammate.
He likes to be around the team. He likes being part of the team.
There’s never been a point - even going back into last year when he didn’t win the job - there’s not been one point where I’ve seen him hang his head and get salty. He’s a phenomenal teammate.”
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Colts Make An Early QB Call That Will Shape This Season
Anthony Richardson Sr. will begin the 2026 season as the backup quarterback, a decision Colts head coach Shane Steichen said was driven by what he saw during the preseason. It is an early but meaningful call for a team trying to settle its depth chart before the games start counting, and it gives Indianapolis a clearer picture of how it wants to structure the quarterback room heading into Week 1.
The rest of the roster picture is starting to come into focus, too. Keenan Allen is expected to be available for the opener despite a recent legal matter, Alec Pierce was a full participant in practice after dealing with an ankle/heel injury, and the Colts also revealed their five captains for the season. Even with those pieces in place, the team is still working through injury updates elsewhere, which means the final version of this roster may not be fully known just yet. [Read more 🡒]
Anthony Richardsons Colts Future Just Took A Surprising Turn
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Shane Steichen and Chris Ballard both confirmed the team is keeping Richardson on the roster despite his earlier trade request, a sign the Colts are still trying to balance development, depth and the short-term demands of the position. It leaves one of the franchises biggest recent draft investments in a very different spot than expected, but also keeps open the possibility that his role could matter again sooner than later. [Read more 🡒]
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Washington later said the move was instinctive and not dirty, and Ahmed has since forgiven him, but the moment still sits as one of those practice-field collisions that changes the arc of more than one career. For Ahmed, it was the end of a season he never got to finish. For Washington, it became part of the backdrop to his own rise, with his NFL debut arriving in October. [Read more 🡒]