Anthony Richardson's Fifth-Year Option Declined: What the Colts' QB Divorce Means for Indianapolis Passing Props

As CBS Sports reported, the Indianapolis Colts have declined Anthony Richardson's fifth-year option, leaving him with one year remaining on his rookie deal and a trade request already on the table. No team has bitten. The former No. 4 overall pick from the 2023 draft finishes his Colts tenure with a 67.8 passer rating, a 50.6% completion rate across 15 starts, and a moment that may define his career arc — voluntarily removing himself from a 2024 Week 8 game against Houston citing fatigue. The Colts have moved on. Daniel Jones is the starter.

Jones signed a two-year, $88 million extension in March, and that contract is the clearest signal yet that Indianapolis isn't hedging at quarterback. This is a full commitment to Jones as the offense's engine heading into 2026. The coaching staff will build around his strengths — accuracy, pocket management, rhythm passing — rather than designing a dual-threat system that Richardson's raw athleticism demanded. That's a meaningful philosophical shift for the offense, and it anchors the Colts' aerial attack in a far more conventional, volume-based passing game.

Richardson's destinations, should he be traded or released, range from developmental backups roles in Philadelphia or Pittsburgh to a potential starter's audition in Arizona — but none of those scenarios materially affect Colts prop markets. What matters in Indianapolis is what Jones does with full, uncontested ownership of the offense. Last season as a starter with the Giants in 2023, Jones averaged 224 passing yards per game with reasonable volume but inconsistent efficiency. In a Shane Steichen-run system with receivers like Michael Pittman Jr. and a capable run game to keep defenses honest, the floor on Jones's passing volume looks more stable than his New York years suggested.

For prop bettors, the Richardson situation clarifies what had been a murky depth chart. Jones lines are now being set with full starter certainty baked in, but books may still be calibrating his yardage totals conservatively given his injury history and the Colts' run-first tendencies. Passing yards props in the 215–235 range for Jones feel like they underestimate a full-season workload in a functional West Coast-style system. Pittman Jr.'s receiving yards and receptions props also warrant attention — he's the clear alpha in this passing game with no quarterback competition to disrupt offensive continuity through camp and the preseason. Richardson's departure also removes any threat of a mid-season quarterback switch that would crater receiver value.

The broader takeaway: Indianapolis is no longer a quarterback-by-committee risk. That certainty has value in a props market that prices uncertainty harshly. Bet the Colts' passing game with more confidence than you could have a month ago — Jones is locked in, the system suits him, and the weapons around him are intact.