Colts
Colts owner Carlie Irsay-Gordon addressed one of the team’s offseason questions, which involves the future of former first-round QB Anthony Richardson, who suffered a fractured orbital bone in a freak accident.
“I think I’m going to stay in my lane on that one,” Irsay-Gordon said, via Pro Football Talk. “But it’s — I feel horrible for Anthony with the injuries that he’s had to endure, and I know Chris [Ballard] and Shane [Steichen] are going to do the right thing.”
Colts
Colts GM Chris Ballard said that he feels good about where the team is heading and said that the 8-2 start was legitimate.
“It wasn’t all negative. The 8-2 (record) is real. That was not a mirage. It wasn’t,” Ballard said, via Around The NFL. “We were humming, and we were playing good football.”
Ballard is confident that QB Daniel Jones will revert to form based on his age and athletic ability.
“I’m not a doctor, and I’m not God in terms of knowing what the future’s gonna hold in his healing,” Ballard said. “The history of guys coming back has been pretty good and they’ve been older than Daniel. Daniel is 28 years old, and he’s a pretty freaky talent in terms of athletic ability. So no, I do feel confident that he’ll make it back. Will he be the version you saw right away? Maybe not, but he’s still going to be really good.”
Ballard indicated that Jones will continue to be a part of the team’s long-term plans.
“I think Daniel Jones has a really bright future here in Indianapolis,” Ballard said. “I think (a return is) mutual on both sides. I think Daniel was a really good fit for this organization, and I think this organization and city were a really good fit for Daniel.”
Ballard refused to say if QB Anthony Richardson would remain part of the team’s long-term plans and said that his development has been hindered by a string of bad luck.
“That’s a very fair question,” Ballard said. “I was really happy with Anthony. I think you knew that even after we named Daniel Jones the starter. Unfortunately for Anthony, he’s had some really bad luck. … Anthony was making really good strides. I’ll tell you this about Anthony — he’s a great teammate, he’s a great teammate. He never sulked, never complained, was doing a great job as a backup quarterback and then had a freak accident in the locker room. I think time will tell. … He’s gotta still work through the vision that he has, and we’ll see what the future holds there, but (he’s had) a little bit of bad luck.”
Raiders
Raiders GM John Spytek was asked about having the first overall draft pick and the chance to draft Indiana QB Fernando Mendoza with veteran QB Geno Smith still under contract.
“Yeah, Geno is under contract for next year,” Spytek said in his Monday press conference. “We did that because when we traded for him, we liked him. I’m not going to get too far into the future right now, I’m day by day, but he’s one of the guys that’s under contract, he’s a quarterback, he played some good football this year, and we’ll make those decisions going forward.”
- Per ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler, a Raiders team source expects a candidate with a background on offense to get heavy consideration for the head coaching vacancy. Las Vegas is aware it could have a rookie quarterback coming in as the No. 1 pick who needs to be developed.
The post AFC Notes: Fernando Mendoza, Anthony Richardson, Geno Smith, Colts, Raiders appeared first on NFLTradeRumors.co.