The Anthony Richardson situation is interesting. Their benching of him means they have either given up on him or are committing to develop him. If they are giving up on him, that is way too early. He has only started 10 games in the NFL and started 13 games in college. We all knew he was a project QB who had tons of talent but needed to be developed. Giving up on him so soon would be a terrible front office decision. If they want to develop him, that makes sense, but right now we don’t know what’s happening
Richardson and Bryce Young’s situations show teams seem more willing to give up on young QBs early. I think owners know there is so much money to be made and you need a great QB to be a great team. With so many good QBs coming into the NFL each year, teams are not going to be patient. 8 Pro Bowl Qbs have been drafted since the 2020 NFL draft. And 4 of the rookie QBs drafted this year already look better than Richardson and Young. I think this is scaring the Colts and Panthers into potentially giving up too soon.
I think teams should give QBs 3 years to develop. Year 1 is about getting experience, whether playing or sitting behind someone else. You only give up after 1 year if their personality is so bad, everyone in the building dislikes them. By the end of Year 2, they need to show flashes of being great. If not, you can move on. By the end of Year 3, they should prove they are your franchise QB and you should know if you want to pay them or not.
I think young college QBs will now stay in college longer. Great college QBs can make millions of dollars a year and take out insurance polices that pay tens of millions of dollars if a player is injured. This takes away a lot of the injury risk.
Unless you are a bonafide stud who is ready to play right away, why force the issue? Teams don’t give up on you earlier just because you played more in college. Bo Nix is a great example. He could have gone to the NFL after his junior year when he already had 34 starts. Instead he transferred, stayed 2 more years and developed into a Heisman finalist and first round pick. Halfway through his rookie year, he’s looking pretty good.
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