"Ballard wishes he’d resisted the urge to hand Richardson the job right away, a move late owner Jim Irsay pushed for at the time. What the young quarterback needed was the chance to acclimate to the NFL, to learn the job, to watch a veteran’s daily habits and build his own,” Keefer writes.

The fallout -- Richardson's injuries, brief benching in 2024, and Jekyll-and-Hyde play on the field -- resulted in the Colts conjuring a quarterback competition this summer, as Richardson and free-agent addition Daniel Jones go toe to toe for the right to be the Colts' quarterback. It's got Ballard viewing in hindsight.

Anthony Richardson hasn’t had a great start to his NFL career and Indianapolis Colts GM, Chris Ballard, is finally admitting the team’s failure in handling Richardson. In fact, it was Richardson’s NFL scouting combine that skyrocketed his draft stock into the top 5.