How Colts’ ex-trade candidate Anthony Richardson beat out Riley Leonard to be Daniel Jones’ QB2

How Colts’ ex-trade candidate Anthony Richardson beat out Riley Leonard to be Daniel Jones’ QB2 originally appeared on The Sporting News.
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Anthony Richardson’s Indianapolis Colts career has had the opposite of a linear path. He’s gotten the chance to start, been injured, pulled himself from games, been yanked as the starter despite being healthy, has asked for a trade, and now he’s an unlikely QB2 behind Daniel Jones.

How did Riley Leonard lose the backup job to Richardson after how tenuous the dynamic seemed between the latter and Indianapolis’s brain trust?

According to Colts head coach Shane Steichen, Richardson and Leonard were neck-and-neck in camp day-to-day, but the former’s superior preseason snaps tipped the scales in Richardson’s favor.

“I thought (Richardson) did some good things through camp. He’s continued to develop and grow and learn and get better. The same thing with Riley, he’s continued to learn, grow and get better. With both of those guys, it’s just consistency,” Steichen said.

Outside of leading one scoring drive in the second half of the final preseason game, Leonard largely struggled over the past three preseason games. Leonard completed fewer than half of his passes (20/42), threw two interceptions, and didn’t find the end zone himself.

Richardson, meanwhile, completed more than 63% of his passes (21/33) but added 68 rushing yards on 10 carries and a touchdown.

Only one quarterback looked capable of leading an offense down the field. Seems like a straightforward enough decision for Steichen.

Riley Leonard missed his best chance to solidify Colts’ QB2 job

This preseason wasn’t the only window where Leonard may have narrowly missed the chance to be the Colts’ QB2.

Last season, during the same game in which Jones tore his Achilles, Leonard got unexpected action as the primary signal-caller. He looked like a rookie thrust into the spotlight on short notice – since Richardson had also been ruled out for the season months earlier – but the former Notre Dame star still looked serviceable against the NFL’s No. 11 team in total defense last year, the Jacksonville Jaguars. Leonard completed over 60% of his passes, most of them checkdowns, but he guided the offense downfield.

He suffered a knee injury, though, and the team turned to a 44-year-old Philip Rivers in his absence. By the time Leonard returned, he was impressive in Indy’s Week 18 matchup against the Houston Texans, but he faced backups in the second half.

Leonard didn’t lock down the backup job in 2025 when the iron was hot, and the team was desperate. Who knows if he’ll ever have such a clear lane to prove himself again.

Riley Leonard must impress during any chances he gets in 2026

Richardson is an unrestricted free agent in 2027. With the two-year, $88 million contract Jones signed this offseason, there isn’t room for a major Richardson extension, too. Richardson could be the next Malik Willis if he gets any extended action this fall and/or winter. Another franchise with no clear future option at the position could see Richardson as a potential savior, just as the Miami Dolphins did for Willis.

Leonard, meanwhile, may benefit from a number crunch. Only if he proves the 2026 preseason was the anomaly, and not his limited action during the 2025 regular season, though.

The Colts could be looking for an eventual Jones successor in the 2027 draft if DJ doesn’t prove he’s a viable long-term play over the next few months. Even if Jones does prove himself, he’s now a re-injury risk at all times after the Achilles tear. Finding a backup in the later rounds of next year’s draft to provide competition for Leonard could be on the table.

If Leonard finds the field in 2026, he must maximize every snap. As valued as his practice effort has been, he had notable regression against opposing NFL defenses while the clock was running this past summer. That’s the last thing you want to show in year two as a quarterback in the same system.