Indianapolis Colts cut Nick Foles, clear a path for Anthony Richardson

The Indianapolis Colts have cut veteran quarterback Nick Foles, making room for rookie Anthony Richardson to stake his claim to be the team’s starter.

Nick Foles‘ time with the Indianapolis Colts is officially over, with the team announcing yesterday that they had released the 34-year-old veteran quarterback, thinning out a group that already had Gardner Minshew and Sam Ehlinger signed even before drafting Anthony Richardson fourth overall.

Indianapolis Colts Give Richardson a Chance to Start

A one-time Super Bowl champion and Super Bowl MVP, Foles was brought in last year to provide some veteran experience alongside Matt Ryan, but neither was able to help the team effectively on the field.

In two starts for the Colts, Foles went 0-2, throwing just 224 yards with 59.5% accuracy, being picked off four times, and failing to hit the end zone a single time.

With Ehlinger performing marginally better in his three starts, and the team also bringing in Minshew in free agency earlier in the year, the writing seemed to be on the wall for Foles even before Richardson’s name was called with the fourth pick in last month’s draft.

The veteran passer may still have some opportunities in the league, especially for teams looking for extra bodies in training camp or needing some experience further down their depth chart, but the Colts themselves look set to give Richardson the best chance possible to win the starter’s job outright.

Minshew is the presumed starter at the time of writing, with Ehlinger likely already the third QB with Richardson’s first-round pedigree putting him firmly in the competition to start by the time September rolls around.

With Foles out of the way, that leaves just one person Richardson realistically needs to outperform during the off-season and pre-season games, making his path to becoming a starter in the NFL much clearer and easier by all accounts.

Minshew is not likely to be too much competition for the rookie out of Florida, with his best years coming with the Jacksonville Jaguars between 2019 and 2020 before playing backup with the Philadelphia Flyers the past two years.

Richardson can bring some excitement to the Lucas Oil Stadium in 2023, breathing fresh life into a position that has struggled since Andrew Luck’s early retirement after the 2018 season, and his route to claiming it for himself is now far easier.

There are still the formalities of camp, but it would be extremely surprising if the Colts do not hand the reins to Richardson early and see if he can become the franchise quarterback they need to become a perennial playoff contender once again.