When meeting with reporters following the Indianapolis Colts’ season finale win over the Jacksonville Jaguars this past Sunday, quarterback Joe Flacco was asked what advice he would give Anthony Richardson about becoming the franchise quarterback heading into this offseason.
Here is what Flacco had to say:
“Listen, the biggest thing I think when you get into this world, there’s time when things aren’t going perfectly where it can become a profession–it is our profession. It’s a job and there’s times where it can fee like a job. I think what I would say is, find ways to remind yourself or find little things to look at and do that remind you that this isn’t a job. This is so much more than that.
“It’s such a special thing that we get to do and I think the more you remind yourself of that and remind yourself why you started playing this game in the first place, then the better mindset you’ll have to accomplish what you want to have. And listen, you’re going to hit little speed bumps along the way where it goes back to feeling like a job, like ‘man, I gotta go to work today.’ Alright, I let me pick myself up and go do it, but there is little ways to remind yourself of how special it is and how great of an opportunity we have.”
Great advice and there’s two ways we can look at where these words of wisdom are coming from.
On one hand, perhaps Flacco, who has been around the game for a long time and was once in Richardson’s shoes as a young player tasked with being a franchise quarterback, is sharing these words from his own experiences and lessons that he had to learn along the way.
However, the less rosy side is that after spending a season with Richardson, this is an observation that Flacco has made in regards to the learning curve that the young quarterback is navigating.
During the middle portion of the season, Richardson was benched with the team wanting him to take a step back and focus on the day to day details that come with being a starting quarterback, along with some of the other captains, including DeForest Buckner, having met with him as well.
By retaining Chris Ballard and Shane Steichen for the 2025 season, I do believe that shows a commitment to Richardson as well, but after a year where little progress was made on the field, it certainly feels like the upcoming year is now or never for him.
Flacco, meanwhile, who will turn 40 years old, is set to be a free agent.
