Rams Search For Qb, Anthony Richardson Seeks Trade

Anthony Richardson broke the combine three years ago and was drafted fourth overall by the Colts, but now the football player is expected to be traded in the offseason. Can you imagine how lucky the Los Angeles Rams would be if somehow Richardson ended up on their sideline or on their injured reserve list in 2026?

Wow!

Stephen Holder, the Colts beat writer for ESPN, says that Richardson is expected to request a trade in the offseason as to avoid facing the fact that he lost the starting job to Daniel Jones:

Assuming his vision issues are resolved after his freak orbital bone injury, look for him to seek a trade. There has been no request just yet, according to team sources, but it is beginning to feel inevitable.

As for his trade value, the Colts can certainly recoup something. Each of the following quarterbacks was traded for draft-pick compensation in the past two seasons: Kenny Pickett (twice), Sam Howell (twice), Justin Fields and Taylor Heinicke. There’s no reason to think the Colts couldn’t get something for a quarterback who will be just 24 next season and is a former first-round pick.

Richardson has eschewed the normal path towards greatness by only making 15 starts and throwing 11 TD/13 INT through three seasons rather than proving that he can run a passing offense as a quarterback. Richardson only threw 2 passes in 2025 and still managed to land on IR.

The Colts are expected to re-sign Jones and make him the starter despite recovering from a torn Achilles and to lean towards Riley Leonard as the backup.

Some Rams fans, like some fans of all 32 teams, will still see Richardson as a “quarterback” who is tall, fast, can throw far and jump high. A football player who doesn’t turn 24 until May.

However, Richardson’s true path towards being a quarterback would have involved spending more time in college and proving it’s possible at that level before reaching the NFL. Richardson spent just one year as a starter at Florida before declaring for the draft, a season in which he completed 54% of his passes.

At this point, Richardson would be lucky to have a career like Trey Lance, a backup who has thrown 200 passes in five years. Realistically, Richardson can’t be trusted to be any team’s backup. Especially not a Super Bowl contender like the Rams and an offense that relies on Matthew Stafford-level quarterbacking to succeed. Sean McVay has done wonders for former high draft picks like Jared Goff, Baker Mayfield, and Stafford, but he probably can’t do anything for Richardson.

L.A.’s path towards finding a successor to Stafford without using a first round draft pick won’t be resolved with Richardson.

So the expectation that Richardson will be traded (or he could very realistically be cut without any suitors interested in giving up any draft pick) is inevitable not because he wants out, but because he’s going to have a hard time convincing teams to let him back in.