Anthony Richardson's fifth-year option not picked up by Colts; what it means

The Colts have opted not to exercise the team’s fifth-year option on Anthony Richardson Sr. ’s contract, a league source confirmed to IndyStar on Friday. The deadline for teams to pickup the fifth-year option on the contract for their 2023 first-round picks is May 1.

Had the Colts triggered the option, Indianapolis would’ve been on the hook for a fully-guaranteed $22. 483 million salary to Richardson, the fourth-overall pick from the 2023 draft, in 2027. Since Richardson lost out to the team’s current starting quarterback, Daniel Jones, in training camp last year, the team picking up that eight-figure option for, at best, a backup quarterback seemed to be unlikely.

Richardson appeared in just two games in 2025, his third season in the league, logging 14 snaps and throwing two passes with one completion — to himself on a tipped ball. Richardson suffered a fractured orbital bone in October in a freak pre-game accident, an injury that required surgery and effectively sidelined him for the rest of the season. The 23-year-old returned to the practice field in December after the Colts brought in 44-year-old Philip Rivers off the couch for an injured Jones, but vision limitations stemming from Richardson’s injury lingered and he never returned to the game day lineup.

Richardson told reporters before the end of the season that he was struggling to field snaps during practice. Richardson’s health has since seemed to trend upward, though Colts general manager Chris Ballard told reporters ahead of the draft that his young quarterback still had not fully regained his vision. In February, with the Colts clearly working toward a new contract with Jones as the franchise’s short and long-term solution at quarterback, Richardson requested the opportunity to seek a trade.