Anthony Richardson Will Play When Colts Staff 'Thinks He's Ready to Go,' Says GM

Indianapolis Colts general manager Chris Ballard intends to let the coaching staff make the call about when Anthony Richards is ready to become the starting quarterback.

Ballard told reporters there will be collaboration between every level of the organization in terms of monitoring Richardson's development. But he intends to heavily weigh the input of the coaches who are working directly with the rookie.

"You don't want to put him out there and he's not ready to handle everything that requires playing the position," he said. "I'll lean heavily on our coaching staff—on what they think and what they think he can handle and what he's ready for. Then eventually he'll play.

"But until he's ready, we'll make that determination and if the coaching staff thinks he's ready to go, then we'll play him."

For now at least, the Colts are giving Gardner Minshew the first-team reps.

Coming out of the 2023 NFL draft, team owner Jim Irsay gave the impression the Colts wouldn't wait around with Richardson.

"I think it's important," he said of the first-year signal-caller playing meaningful snaps early on. "You get better by playing. I mean, practice and preseason games and watching in a quarterback room, that's great. But, man, I'll tell you, he'd get better by playing, and it's something that it is really important."

But rushing a young QB onto the field can be equally detrimental to his growth as a player.

Plenty of Colts fans will be following training camp to see how whether Minshew and Richardson's workload evolves and provides any telling indicators as to how the quarterback room will line up.