NFL Rumors: Anthony Richardson ‘Destroyed’ by Benching; Colts ‘don’t give up’ on QB | News, scores, highlights, stats and rumors

The Indianapolis Colts are “not giving up” on second-year quarterback Anthony Richardson despite benching him for veteran Joe Flacco, ESPN’s Stephen Holder reported Tuesday.

Simply put, it hasn’t been a good season for Richardson, who ranks last among the 31 qualifiers in passer rating (57.2), per Reference for professional football. Every other signal caller has a value of 70.7 or higher.

Of course, Richardson has only made 10 starts in his career. His rookie season, which seemed promising, was cut short after four games due to a Grade 3 AC joint sprain. Richardson also made just 13 starts at Florida, so he didn’t come into the pros with much experience.

Of course, there have been some growing pains for Richardson, interspersed with incredible, eye-popping moments, like when he uncorked this dime from Alec Pierce in Week 1.

Matt Waldman of Footballguys also noted that there were five drops in Richardson’s last start Sunday against the Houston Texans in a 23-20 loss.

There have been some accuracy issues overall. Richardson has completed more than 50 percent of his passes in just four of his 10 starts.

Richardson also took himself out for an appearance against Houston, and that didn’t go over well with some observers.

“I was tired,” he said, according to Holder. “I’m not going to lie. That was a lot of running there. I didn’t think I could play that next play, so I told (Colts coach) Shane (Steichen) I just needed a break there.”

Center Ryan Kelly gave his opinion, saying it wasn’t “up to standard.”

Either way, Richardson takes a step back, and Flacco takes a step to help a team still in the playoff mix at 4-4. Flacco has completed 65.7 percent of his passes (71 of 108) for 716 yards, seven touchdowns and one interception this year.