Indianapolis Colts

The fourth overall pick in the 2023 draft is in danger of landing third on the Indianapolis depth chart.

Although the widespread social-media buzz that quarterback Anthony Richardson Sr. already has been demoted to No. 3 behind Daniel Jones and Riley Leonard may be premature, at a minimum he’s still competing with Leonard for the QB2 slot.

An offseason effort by Richardson and the Colts to find a trade partner went nowhere. With his 2026 compensation ($5.385 million) fully guaranteed, the Colts have no reason to cut him, since they’ll still be paying him. (At most, they’d save $1.145 million if/when he signs elsewhere for the fourth-year minimum salary.)

Even if there’s no trade to be done for now, one injury elsewhere could be the spark. Likewise, an injury to Jones or Leonard would elevate his importance to the Colts.

That’s why the Colts intend to keep all three into the regular season. With the trade deadline landing the Tuesday after Week 9, there’s still a chance that the Colts could get something of value in return for what has been a failed first-round pick.

Richardson entered the NFL as a highly-talented prospect with limited college reps. In three seasons, he has 16 regular-season appearances with 14 starts.

The preseason looms large for Richardson. If he performs well, that could generate interest in a trade. At a minimum, it could move him higher on the list of available options if/when a team loses its starter or backup due to injury.

For now, the point is this — one year after Richardson lost the starting job in camp to Jones, Richardson could be losing the backup job to Leonard, whose chance to replace Jones as the starter in December was short-circuited by the unretirement of Philip Rivers.

Despite his success, Adam Vinatieri was uncertain whether it was enough to get him in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Kickers don’t always get their due, and if they do, it’s usually a long wait.

In his second year of eligibility, though, Vinatieri earned his day in the sun.

He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Saturday, joining Jan Stenerud and Morten Andersen as the only pure kickers with busts in Canton.

“So here I stand at the top of the mountain. The pinnacle of greatness. The highest achievement in my professional career. I can officially say my biggest dream has come true,” Vinatieri said. “As I look out into this crowd, I don’t just see Hall of Famers, teammates, coaches, friends, and family. I see every person who believed in me, challenged me, sacrificed for me, and played a role in turning my childhood dream into this unforgettable moment.

“This honor is one that I accept with tremendous gratitude and humility, because I know no one reaches this stage alone. Today is not just about me. Today is about family. It’s about teammates. It’s about coaches. It’s about organizations that believed in me. And it’s about every person who played a role in this incredible journey.”

Vinatieri, 53, played 24 seasons, 10 with the Patriots (1996-2005) and 14 with the Colts (2006-19). He became the NFL’s all-time leading scorer with 2,673 points and has the most regular-season field goals with 599. He connected on an NFL-record 44 consecutive field goals between the 2015 and 2016 seasons with the Colts, and no player had more seasons with 100 or more points scored than Vinatieri (21).

He earned his reputation as the NFL’s greatest clutch kicker in the postseason, which included connecting on last-second game-winning field goals to clinch Super Bowl XXXVI and Super Bowl XXXVIII. in the 2006 playoffs, Vinatieri made 14 field goals as the Colts earned their first Indianapolis-era Lombardi Trophy.

Vinatieri had a long list of those he thanked in a humorous speech that included jokes aimed at Bill Belichick, Tom Brady, Pat McAfee, Peyton Manning and Andersen.

Vinatieri’s speech, though, centered around “a kid from South Dakota who never gave up on his dreams,” and he ended his almost 19-minute speech with a love letter to football.

“Football, it would have been so easy to forget to tell you just how much you mean to me. If you were sitting here in this crowd today, this is what I would say,” Vinatieri said. “I loved you with everything I had. There was a time when I thought I wanted you more than air, but I was wrong. You were the air. You gave me purpose. You gave me direction. You gave me a life I could have never imagined.

“The beautiful thing about our relationship was that the more I gave to you, the more you gave back to me. The more I devoted myself to you, the more you rewarded me. The more I committed to you, the more you committed to me. I tried to honor you every single day because I knew you deserved nothing less than my very best.

“I gave you 38 years of my life, and in return, you gave me a lifetime of memories. I gave you points; you gave me friendships. I gave you countless hours of work; you gave me the opportunity to travel the world, experience different cultures and meet extraordinary people. Every sacrifice became an investment, and somehow football, you always gave me back more than I put in.

“Looking back, I realize I was never just playing football. We were building a life together. You challenged me, humbled me, disciplined me and ultimately shaped the man I became. Now, it feels like a parent letting go of a grown child. You raised me, prepared me and believed in me, and now you’re telling me it’s time for the next chapter.

“For so many years, football, you were the mountain I chose to climb. Today, standing at the summit, I finally understand what the climb was really about. It was never just reaching the top. It was the view you gave me along the way — the people I love, the family I cherish, the friendships I’ve made, and a life richer than I ever dreamed possible.

“So thank you, football. I gave you everything I had, and somehow, you gave me even more in return. Thank you for the life you gave me. I hope I honored you as much as you honored me.”

The Colts won’t be able to put cornerback Cam Taylor-Britt in the lineup for their season opener against the Ravens.

The NFL announced on Friday that Taylor-Britt has been suspended one game. The suspension is for violating the league’s Personal Conduct Policy.

Taylor-Britt pleaded guilty to reckless driving and driving without a valid license in January to resolve charges from a pair of 2025 traffic stops. He was sentenced to five days in jail as a result.

Both of those traffic stops took place while Taylor-Britt was playing for the Bengals. He signed with the Colts as a free agent this offseason.

Taylor-Britt will not be with the team for the first week of the regular season, but can practice this summer and play in the team’s preseason games.

Colts quarterback Daniel Jones’s work in training camp has only generated positive reviews and that continued during an intrasquad scrimmage on Thursday night.

Jones was credited with completing 21-of-28 passes by Joel A. Erickson of the Indianapolis Star and he also showed that he’s recovered well from last year’s torn Achilles by scrambling and rolling out when the situation called for it. After the practice wrapped up, head coach Shane Steichen didn’t hold back from expressing how impressed he was by the quarterback’s play.

“He’s on fire right now,” Steichen said, via the team’s website. “It’s awesome to see. It’s obviously a good sign for a football team when he’s throwing the ball that way for sure.”

Jones has checked every box in his return to action this offseason and the next step will be turning his strong practice work into similar performances against other teams. The Colts will practice with and play against the Patriots next week, but the real test will really come in Week 1 against the Ravens.

When Adam Vinatieri was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, he had a decision to make: Would he be presented for induction by someone from the Patriots or the Colts?

Vinatieri chose Colts owner Carlie Irsay-Gordon to present him at the enshrinement ceremony, which will take place on Saturday in Canton, Ohio. Vinatieri told Mike Florio on Football Night in America that to him, it was a clear choice because of what Irsay-Gordon’s father, the late Colts owner Jim Irsay, had meant to him.

“I love both organizations, I’ve got so many memories and so many great friends on both sides,” Vinatieri said. “Living in Indy, what the Irsay family meant to me, Jim just meant the world bringing me into that organization, and Carlie I’m so excited watching her taking over her dad’s legacy.”

Unlike the Baseball Hall of Fame, which presents players wearing one team’s cap, the Pro Football Hall of Fame does not induct players as representatives of any one team, and if it did, a case could be made for Vinatieri representing either of his two NFL teams. Vinatieri played for the Patriots from 1996 to 2005 and for the Colts from 2006 to 2019. He was a first-team All-Pro for both teams and he was a Super Bowl champion for both teams. And now he’s a Hall of Famer for both teams.

But only one person will serve as his presenter, and Vinatieri wanted the owner of the Colts.

The Colts signed free agent tight end Pharaoh Brown on Thursday, the team announced.

In a corresponding move, the Colts placed tight end Sean McKeon on injured reserve. McKeon, who has an undisclosed injury, will finish the season on injured reserve unless he reaches an injury settlement with the Colts.

Brown returns to Indianapolis after spending time with the team in 2023.

He played for the Cardinals in 2025, appearing in seven games with two starts. Brown caught two passes for 1 yard, while seeing action on 59 offensive snaps and 77 on special teams.

Brown has also spent time with the Dolphins (2025), Seahawks (2024), Patriots (2023), Colts (2023), Browns (2018-20, 2022), Texans (2020-22) and Raiders (2017-18). He has appeared in 94 career games with 56 starts, totaling 74 receptions for 752 yards and three touchdowns.

Colts running back Jonathan Taylor didn’t need to hold in to get a new contract.

According to multiple reports on Thursday morning, Taylor has agreed to a two-year extension. PFT reported earlier this week that signs were pointing to an extension of that length as Taylor moves into his seventh season in Indianapolis.

Taylor is set to make $44 million over those two years with a maximum contract value of $47 million. There is $39 million in guaranteed money.

The $22 million average annual salary is just behind the $22.25 million that Bijan Robinson agreed to with the Falcons this week. Lions running back Jahmyr Gibbs — who joined Robinson in holding in at training camp and is still out of practice — is now the biggest name looking for a contract extension at the running back spot.

It’s long appeared during the offseason that Colts quarterback Daniel Jones would be ready to start the regular season, despite suffering a torn Achilles in early December.

That has not changed as the Colts have gone through the early portion of training camp.

“Felt good through the whole camp so far, and kind of — I knew I would,” Jones said Tuesday, via transcript from the team, noting he’s felt good doing everything and moving around. “I think you try to push yourself in rehab and what you’re doing in preparation for camp, kind of knowing what to expect. So, I’ve felt really good, and I’ll continue to stay on the recovery part of it, make sure I’m available and out here every day.”

Jones said he doesn’t feel like head coach Shane Steichen has limited the playbook at all during practice, despite Jones coming off an injury. To that end, Jones has been lining up under center plenty throughout camp.

“I think that was something I tried to focus on through the rehab process is pushing off that foot when I’m under center and making sure you’re not disrupting timing with running backs or with play-action game, or any of that stuff,” Jones said, adding he started doing that around four months ago. “So, that was definitely an important focus of the process, and something I’ll continue to work on.”

That’s all positive news for a Colts team that started out hot in 2025 but finished 1-8 in its last nine games, including an 0-4 record after Jones’ injury on Dec. 7.

In his 13 games last year, Jones completed 68 percent of his throws for 3,101 yards with 19 touchdowns and eight interceptions.

When it comes to running back contracts, much of the focus has been on the guys who are (or, as to one of them, were) holding in: Falcons running back Bijan Robinson and Lions running back Jahmyr Gibbs.

There’s another running back who wants a new deal. But he has been practicing (and, in turn, risking the kind of injury that would immediately end all negotiations and give Taylor no security beyond 2026).

While it remains to be seen whether, and what, Gibbs gets paid, Taylor’s new deal could be coming. There’s talk that Taylor may end up with a two-year extension.

Taylor, who signed a three-year, $42 million extension in 2023 after negotiations that got contentious and at times ugly, is entering the final year of his contract. He’s due to earn a base salary of $11.98 million with per-game roster bonuses that total $1.02 million.

Taylor apparently learned about the new Robinson deal from reporters, during a Tuesday press conference.

“I gotta go talk to my agent, too,” Taylor said, via James Boyd of The Athletic. “I have faith, so I’m gonna tap in and check in with him, now that you guys broke the news to me.”

For Taylor, 27, this is likely his last shot at a big contract. And if it’s going to be a two-year extension, Taylor could match the Robinson new-money APY of $22.25 million with a three-year, $57.5 million deal.

That would put Taylor at a total average of $19.167 million through 2028.

We’ll see where it goes. But, again, the fact that he’s practicing means there’s a non-zero chance any and all pending offers will instantly go away.

Colts receiver Alec Pierce has been on the active/physically unable to perform list since the start of training camp due to offseason ankle surgery.

It’s still unclear when he’ll be ready to practice.

Head coach Shane Steichen said in his Monday press conference that he doesn’t have a better sense of Pierce’s timeline to get back on the field.

“I know that he’s working,” Steichen said, via transcript from the team. “He’s heading in the right direction for sure. So, I feel really good about that moving forward.”

Pierce, 26, signed a four-year, $114 million deal with the Colts in March to stick with the club. He’s coming off his best season, having caught 47 passes for 1,003 yards with six touchdowns in 15 games in 2025.