Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
We've been yapping about this all day long and listening
to the text line and some phone callers, and we'll
get some national perspective now as we turn to the
Payless Liquors hotline and from NFL Network, Tom Pella, Sero,
terrific reporter there, joins us now on the Fan Morning Show.
Good morning, Tom. It's never boring for you. There's always
somebody in a quarterback controversy somewhere in America for you.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Right well, we're on the pretty short list at this
point of the competitions in camp, but you're right, we'll
be a week or two in the season and people
will be calling for somebody to get benched somewhere. You know,
this one was really going all the way back to
the combine. When Chris Ballard said it's going to be
an open competition, you knew that they were going to
(00:41):
try to bring in somebody to really and truly push
Anthony Richardson. You know, the unfortunate part in all this is,
I don't know that you ever really got the type
of competition that you would have wanted. We all know
Anthony Richardson what he needs above all else's reps. He
needs time on task, And for a guy who had
bottled injuries his first two years to come in and
(01:02):
have the shoulder issue in the spring and then keep
the start in the first preseason game and dislocate his
pinky right out of the gate, it just it felt
like a continuation. I don't think that by any stretch,
this is the end of Anthony Richardson. You know, there's
plenty of other quarterbacks who you know, have not been
able to put it all together in the first couple
(01:22):
of years, and they get trader, or they get cut
and they go someplace else, And I mean, shoot, we're
still talking about Trey Lance. You know, oh, you know,
great preseason that he had with the Chargers. It's like,
you know, year five or six or whatever it is
for Trey Lance. At this point, there's no reason that
we can't, you know, be talking about Anthony Richardson somewhere
down the line. But you know, the guy needs to play,
he needs to practice. He didn't get the opportunity to
(01:44):
do that, and the Colts just aren't in a position
where they can allow him to get that time on
task in regular season games where you know, wins and
jobs are at stake.
Speaker 3 (01:55):
Tom James woy here from the Athletic and I enjoy
your work as well. You certainly me busy like the
rest of us in this reporting world, and I do
want to pivot a bit back to what you've just
said with Anthony. There is hope that he can still
become something. But the narrative that the cults are trying
to push right now is that they haven't given up
on him. There's a future for him in Indianapolis. But
(02:17):
how realistic do you think that is? Considering that he's
a now former top five pick that's been bench twice
in nine months. Those players usually don't work out with
the same franchise, so how realistic is it for him
to work out Indianapolis?
Speaker 2 (02:31):
Still, Well, let's start with the reality, James, that you know,
quarterbacks get hurt, and certainly I don't wish that on
Daniel Jones at all. But the odds are that over
half the teams in the league use multiple quarterbacks in
the season. We may see Anthony Richardson playing for the
Colts this year, and quite frankly, given where he's at
in his career, the best opportunity for him to show
(02:53):
something in twenty twenty five, it's going to be with
the Colts not getting traded next week and going to
a team and a coach in a scheme that he's
not familiar with. And so, you know, big picture, what
does this mean for Anthony Richardson? I would I would
go back to this. You remember how this all unfolded
back in twenty twenty three when they had a couple
of quarterbacks on the roster, and again it was a
(03:14):
real competition. You know, the late Jim Mercy uh you know,
came out and said, hey, Anthony's gonna be you know,
we look forward to Anthony richard handed off to Jonathan Taylor.
That was kind of the first time that anybody was like, oh,
Richardson's gonna play Now. That wasn't really you know, the
the I don't want to say the plan, but it
wasn't really the thought process. It was, hey, you're gonna
(03:36):
get this guy on the field. Maybe he's playing goal line,
short yardage packages, but not to be an every game starter.
And obviously, you know, he played I believe four games
that year and he got hurt in three of them,
and so you know, ultimately we didn't see a ton
of him on the field. But what is happening right
now with Anthony Richardson at age twenty four, younger than
Tyler Shuck, younger than some of the other rookies we're
(03:58):
in the league right now. This is probably what should
happen for him in twenty twenty three, which is getting
the opportunity to be behind a veteran who you know,
say what you will about Daniel Jones, like, he's won
games in the league, He's won a playoff game in
the league, he started a whole bunch. You'll be behind
somebody who's gonna be a good guy in the room,
and you can you can watch and learn a little bit. Here.
(04:20):
Anthony Richardson got put in a really tough spot. I
don't think it's unfair, because there is no fair in
the NFL, but it was a really difficult spot of Hey,
and I get you know why you got there, which
was this guy needs to play, so let's put him
out there. But you know, in hindsight and even in foresight, oh,
what should have been the plan initially here? And so
(04:41):
the best thing for Anthony Richardson, of course now is
that he truly can sit back for a while and
watch and learn and get better in practice and run
the scout team, and who knows, maybe making all those
scout team reps in a few months here. You know,
by staying healthy with this point in his NFL career,
maybe that puts him in a better position than what
his next out opportunity comes. You know, he's he's better
(05:02):
for it than much like Bryce Young last year with
the Panthers, he got benched after the second game. I
mean that was the number one pick in the draft
in that same year, you know, and then once Bryce
Young got another opportunity because Andy Dalton was in a
car accident of all things, he was more ready. But
a big part of that was Bryce Young leading through,
continuing to be that guy, you know, working behind the
(05:24):
scenes and being ready, not knowing what his opportunity was getting.
Speaker 4 (05:28):
Definitely echo what James said. Tom Pelsera does a great
work NFL Network where you can find him insider there.
You can see him on The Insiders That's Weak nights
seven pm Eastern on NFL Network. Tom we saw Derek Jackson,
Anthony's agent reach out to Stephen Holder covers could t
ESPN and mentioned, yeah, they are unhappy about this situation,
(05:49):
not going all the way to the trade request. We
had Stephen On earlier and he mentioned he didn't feel
like maybe that was the most far fetched thing that
that could come down the road from the Richardson camp.
What do you think the market would look like? Do
you compare it all to Trey Lance's market a few
years ago? What do you think potential compensation could be
for Anthony Richardson.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
I believe Trey Lance went for a fourth round pick
and it was read around this same time when the
Cowboys traded for him. I think that it would probably
be a similar type of a thing Trey Lance. It
was the same deal, which was he hadn't played kind
of football he played more, he'd started more games in
North Dakota State, but just hadn't played a whole lot.
He had accuracy issues, like Anthony Richardson has not been
(06:31):
the most accurate quarterback so far in his career, and
he's been hurt a lot. So it's probably in a
similar type of a vein. It's probably a mid round
type of a pick. And the question that you have
to ask yourself if you are, you know, Chris Ballad
or Shane Steichen or Carli ersay, is that worth it?
You know? Trey Lance. The other piece of this was
(06:51):
when the fog Niners traded Trey Lance, they had brock Party,
and Brock Perty was going to be the guy that
was Kyle's guy that you know, it was very apparent
he was going to be the starter. When you have,
you know, another guy who's a former high graphic sitting behind,
that puts more pressure on the guy who's starting. It
can create a lot of questions. I don't know that
(07:11):
you have those same types of questions with Daniel Jones, who,
by the way, is only twenty eight himself. But it's
not like, you know, Daniel Jones is one hundred percent
the answer you know for the next ten years, like
the forty nine ers felt about Party. You know, you
hope that he is. You hope that maybe you fell
into something on a one year, fourteen million dollar contract
and you get your guy and it settles all these questions.
(07:32):
But I don't think that the same dynamic exists here
in terms of the pressure on the pressure on the
Colts to do something and to move on from the player.
I just don't think that that exists. So you know,
we'll see. My understanding from talking to people yesterday is
that's not the thought process for the team. I understand,
you know, I've known Derek a long time. I understand,
(07:54):
you know, the frustration for him, the frustration for Anthony Richardson.
But I just go back to this, you know, as
you might be mad about it, and you might think,
you know, this isn't you know, the trust has been
fractured or whatever that quote was that he gave the holder.
But at the same time, realistically, if Anthony Richardson sees
the field in twenty twenty five, he's better off seeing
(08:15):
the field than Indy again because going someplace new Man,
being a quarterback, there's some positions you can get traded,
you know, even in the season, and you can go
out and play that week. Quarterback is not the spot
you want to be doing that. The Baker Mayfield going
to the Rams and starting three days later and rebooting
his career, those situations are few and far between. For Richardson,
(08:35):
just continuing to you know, be on top of this thing,
knowing that it was a close competition with Daniel Jones
and being able just to kind of push forward within
that context, that to me seems like the better outcome here.
We'll see what levers if any, he and his agents
decided to pull there.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
Tom, just Tom's just ruining my childhood dreams there with
you know, the mad and you know I've taken I'm
mad and I just drop players in and have my franchise.
It worked back then, Tom, but it.
Speaker 2 (09:04):
Baker's now Pro Bowl quarterback, Like it's the wildest story ever.
I think they claimed him on a Monday and he
started on a Thursday.
Speaker 3 (09:11):
That yeah, along those lines. My dad's a diehard Raiders fan.
I never let him forget that game. I'm like, you
let a guy come into your house and beat you
on like a couple of days rest and and literally
like you know, a couple of backyard plays. But going
back to the Colts for a second, and I really
would appreciate your respective on this. So the decision is
(09:32):
Daniel Jones, and obviously they have to feel confident enough
to make that decision to make him QB one. But
within that, Tim, how much pressure do you think this
regime just put on itself to basically bet on Daniel Jones, Like,
you know, how much leash do they have left or
you know, goodwill or grace should they get if this
doesn't work out. You know when it comes to Chris
(09:53):
Ballard and Shane Styching.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
Well, I think that part of the reason, and I
know that Shane talked about it the decision made for
twenty twenty five. It's not about the future, but you
heard the words from Shane. It's about consistency, it's about communication,
It's about getting in the right play and making the
right checks. You know. That's all the way of saying,
you know, they know what they're getting, uh in Daniel Jones,
(10:16):
they know you know. The best way to put it
might be this, does Daniel Jones scare you if you're
a defense Maybe not, but he doesn't scare you as
his own coaches either. Anthony Richardson scares the opposing defense,
but he also might scare his own coaches. So do
you want the known commodity do you want the guy confident?
(10:37):
You know, Hey, here's what Daniel's limitations are. Here's the
things he does well. We're going to build around those
things he does well. Or do you have Anthony Richardson
who's going to make the splash plays but you just
don't know, you know, from play in and play out?
Is he also going to make the big mistake. You know,
if you're you know, if you feel like your job
is on the line, And I think that it's fair
(10:58):
to say any coach who's entering year three and has
not yet made the playoffs, any GM Franklin that's been
in the job as long as Chris has, you know, yeah,
there's a level of pressure, There's no doubt about it.
And then you you, you know, add into the context,
do you have a new controlling owner in the situation too.
There's a lot of different dynamics here where certainly you
have to be taking those things into consideration. But to me,
(11:21):
you know, what you need to prove right now if
you're you know, if you're Chris and shading is just Hey,
the rest of his roster's pretty good, and whether Anthony
Richardson ultimately works out or he doesn't, we've built a
pretty strong team. The only way that you find that
and show that is that you get somebody in that
you trust to run your operation and get the ball
in the hands of your playmakers. You know, Anthony Richardson
(11:43):
still might get there someday. Again, he's younger than some
of the guys who got drafted this year, but he's
not there yet. I don't think that that's a secret.
He's just not there yet. And you know, so you
put in the guy who you you trust. Hey, we
at least know what we're getting with this player. Let's
build around his strength. He's going to process, he's going
to get us into the right play, and you roll
(12:04):
from there. You know, time will tell if this ends
up being the right bet. But to me, you know
the other part of this too. And I had people
within the league say this to me when they were
talking about that quarterback competition, along the lines of, well,
you just you got to roll with Richardson first, and
then if he fails, you go to Daniel Jones. I
actually thought the opposite, and going back to the spring,
everything I heard was it was probably going to be
Daniel Jones. And the thinking is, you're not going to
(12:26):
get a spark from Daniel Jones. Daniel Jones is the
steady guy. The spark comes if, hey, if this thing
isn't looking good enough, and then you put in this
six foot five, two hundred and forty pound cannon armed dude,
that's where the spark comes from. And again I would
just go back to Anthony Richardson, what he's got to
do from this point forward is pour everything into being
(12:47):
ready for that moment, because you don't know if that's
coming in the first half a week one or it's
not coming till December, but it's coming. And if you
are able to show some of those flashes, whether your
futures in Indianapolis or somewhere else, that's what's going to
drive you to get your next opportunity in the NFL.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
Tom thanks for your time this morning. We appreciate it.
I know you're back out to some other camps, but
we'll look for you on NFL Network and see you
down the road.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
You got it, guess. Thanks