Anthony Richardson is undervalued

Why now is the best time to invest

One thing that’s been really driving me crazy lately is the obsession with instant gratification in our society. It’s obvious if you look around that this problem is everywhere and I don’t think anyone would seriously argue it’s not a major issue.

But it goes beyond the dating world and ordering food on Doordash and expecting to have all the best gear in videogames without any actual effort.

NFL fans and teams have become so consumed by the idea that every new head coach they hire and every new quarterback they draft must instantly transform the team into a contender that they have become stuck in this endless loop of hiring and firing and drafting and replacing these two positions every year or two, and this cycle is far more damaging to their team than the alternative.

Nobody is willing to look at the big picture anymore. Nobody sees nuance or degrees or context. It’s become this black and white world where something is either “good” or “bad.” There is no in-between, there is no transitioning, there is no waiting to see what happens, there is no patience.

There is only instant judgment and writing-off of anyone that doesn’t immediately live up to our own invented expectations.

Now this phenomenon affects many players and coaches in the league, but the one I want to talk about today is Indianapolis’s Anthony Richardson.

I’ve already extensively covered the issues with teams dismissing good players, particularly QBs, far too early here. How many of these guys are actually good players all along and simply in a bad situation or they weren’t given enough time to develop?

Anthony Richardson was drafted #4 overall in the 2023 draft. Since then he has started and completed just 12 full games and yet nearly everyone is ready for the Colts to trade him away or else just let him go or bench him for someone new.

Nevermind the issue of who exactly you’re going to replace him with that’s better, but what exactly is everyone’s issue here?

“He’s a remedial passer. He sucks”

Richardson has completed 47.7% of his passes as a starter this year. That’s awful I agree.

But do you know what Josh Allen’s completion percentage was after 12 games as a starter? 52.8%.

Jalen Hurts was at 52% after his first four starts and still had multiple games under 55% in his 2nd year as people were calling for him to be replaced.

Peyton Manning completed just 56.7% of his passes as a rookie!

We knew Richardson was a work in progress coming out of Florida and he’s barely had any time to work on that. The man is still just 22 years old! How about we give him a little time to work on that part of his game?

And I have another question to follow up with. How much does it matter that he’s struggling as a passer?

Richardson is 5-5 as a starter this year in spite of his issues.

Josh Allen was 5-6 as a rookie and improved to 10-6 in his 2nd year despite still completing less than 60% of his passes.

Jalen Hurts went 8-7 in his 2nd year throwing just 16 TD passes to 9 INTs.

Both of those players continued to refine and improve their games and both have been Superbowl contenders and MVP candidates over the past few years.

Again, Richardson has not even had a full season’s worth of starts yet. He is the single most physically dominant QB prospect we’ve ever seen. His ceiling is through the roof. We knew he was a work in progress and needed development time.

Nothing has changed since he was drafted.

So why is everyone so ready to chunk him in the dust bin?

Contrary to popular opinion, there are multiple ways to win games in the NFL and not every QB needs to look and play like Tom Brady.

Yes, Richardson’s stats are not impressive, but stats are just numbers. Passing yards and completions and passing touchdowns and interceptions. They are descriptions…not reality.

The reality is that in 3 of his last 5 games, Richardson’s team has scored 25+ points with him at the helm. The offense is working. They are scoring points. It doesn’t matter if it’s pretty or if Richardson is doing it with his arm or his legs or if just the threat of him out there opens up things for other players.

It works.

Just like how Patrick Mahomes is having his worst year statistically and yet the team is winning more than ever.

What actually matters? How often a QB completes the ball? Or how often his team scores enough points to win the game?

Don’t be fooled. Indianapolis is going to start Richardson again next season. There’s simply no one available they can bring in this off-season that’s going to be better, and they are invested in Richardson working out long term if at all possible.

In both real life and fantasy he is an undervalued asset right now. Everyone else is writing him off already, but it is far, far too early to do so. He will start next year, and let’s not forget he was drafted as QB5 on average this past year in redraft for his obviously immense fantasy upside.

And yet most people are going to drop him into down in drafts simply because he didn’t live up to some arbitrary expectation in his first year as a starter.

This is the wrong way to think about it.

Again, what has changed? Absolutely nothing. He’s still got the same upside and in fact, next year he has more value and more of a chance of succeeding because he has more experience than he did at the start of this past season.

Richardson should still be viewed as a potential top 5 redraft QB any given year, particularly in 4 point passing TD leagues. There are only four other guys that should be viewed in the same tier as him. Josh Allen, Lamar, Jalen Hurts, and Jayden Daniels. These five guys have immense ceilings but also very high floors because of their rushing ability.

In 2024 I argued against drafting Richardson as QB5 because the price was high.

But in 2025 Richardson will very likely be drafted outside the top 10 QBs. In dynasty he’s as cheap as he’ll ever be at the moment.

Now is the time to buy. His potential is the same as it ever was and now he’s one more year down the road to possibly reaching that ceiling, and yet irrationally he’s being valued lower than he was last year.

It’s hard to find undervalued QBs with rushing upside these days because everyone knows their value now, and yet 2025 is going to present us with exactly that, a guy with huge potential to break fantasy leagues and he won’t even cost a high pick to speculate on.

Richardson is still a potential fantasy league winner in 2025 and a potential franchise QB for the Colts.

Along with his teammate Jonathan Taylor, this duo could do to fantasy what Lamar plus Derrick Henry and Jalen Hurts plus Saquon have done in 2024 and all for lower draft picks.