Colts Player Rips Franchise's Direction amid Struggles: 'There's No Vision Here'

The Indianapolis Colts were the subject of a withering examination from The Athletic as their playoff drought extended to four seasons.

Zak Keefer and James Boyd did a deep dive into what has led the Colts to become such a mess on the field, and they spoke to one player who summed up the overarching issue.

"There's no vision," the player said. "From the top down—from the front office, to the coaches, to the players—no one is ever on the same page, and every year at the end, we're sitting here losing. If you look at the best teams in the league, they all have a vision, and they commit to it. The Chiefs keep winning because they have a vision. The Lions turned things around because they have a vision.

"There's no vision here."

Nowhere is Indianapolis' lack of direction more apparent than at the quarterback position. After Andrew Luck's sudden retirement ahead of the 2019 season, a different player has led the team in passing yards each year. That kind of QB turnover is unsustainable if an organization wants to consistently contend.

The Colts got steadily diminishing returns when they leaned on short-term stopgaps in Philip Rivers, Carson Wentz and Matt Ryan. Using the No. 4 pick on Anthony Richardson in the 2023 NFL draft represented a clear plan for the future, yet that, too, has been a disaster so far.

Richardson's performance has been underwhelming. He has thrown for 2,391 yards, 11 touchdowns and 13 interceptions while completing just 50.6 percent of his passes so far. In addition, the 22-year-old has logged just 15 starts due to a combination of injuries and briefly getting benched earlier this year.

Richardson only started one full season at Florida before making the jump to the NFL, so he was widely considered to be a developmental prospect. Keefer and Boyd wrote the Colts discovered he "was as raw as they come," implying the learning curve was even steeper than expected.

The Athletic report makes the case Indy pushed Richardson into the starting job and named him a captain before he was ready to handle either role, and his development has suffered as a result.

While Richardson made a strong impression internally after he got benched, his long-term outlook isn't much more clear now than it was before he earned QB1 duties back.

If Indianapolis ultimately has to start over at quarterback in a few years, a lot of fans are likely to be skeptical about the team's ability to avoid making the same mistakes it did with Richardson.

A lack of vision like the one the Colts player lamented to Keefer and Boyd often starts at the top, and team owner Jim Irsay isn't going anywhere.