The mutual interest between the Vikings and Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson should come as no surprise.
After the two teams played in Week 9 of the 2024 season, Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell sought out Richardson, who had been benched at the time for Joe Flacco.
“Do me a favor and remember something,” O’Connell said to Richardson. “You’re a bad dude. . . . And you’re gonna play a long time in this league. . . . Go to work every day. Good things will happen for you. I still believe in you. I know these guys do, [Colts coach] Shane [Steichen] does, too. . . . And this organization loves you.”
The fourth pick in the 2023 draft, Richardson started four games as a rookie. In 2024, he had 11 starts. In 2025, he appeared in two games before suffering a season-ending eye injury when an exercise band malfunctioned in the locker room before a Week 6 game against the Cardinals.
Richardson had lost the starting job to Daniel Jones, who had finished 2024 with the Vikings after being cut by the Giants. The Colts have granted Richardson permission to seek a trade.
Richardson is under contract through 2026, with a compensation package of $5.385 million. A fifth-year option remains available, at a guaranteed salary in 2027 of $23.5 million.
Vikings executive vice president of football operations Rob Brzezinski, who is handling the General Manager duties for now, said earlier this week that the team would explore all their options at quarterback. One of those options is Anthony Richardson.
Cameron Wolfe of NFL Media reports that the Vikings and Richardson have “mutual interest.”
The Colts have given Richardson permission to seek a trade.
The Vikings want to add competition to their quarterbacks room. J.J. McCarthy, the 10th overall pick in 2024, completed 57.6 percent of his passes for 1,632 yards with 11 touchdowns and 12 interceptions in his first season as a starter.
The Vikings finished 9-8 and missed the playoffs.
The Colts provided Richardson, the fourth overall pick in 2023, with competition in 2025, and Daniel Jones won the job. Richardson played only two games — 14 snaps — and threw only two passes last season. He was out much of the season with an orbital fracture.
He has 15 starts in three seasons, completing 50.6 percent of his passes for 2,400 yards with 11 touchdowns and 13 interceptions.
Jones is scheduled for free agency later this month, but all signs point to the Colts keeping him as their starter with either a tag or with a long-term deal.
Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell’s staff for the 2026 season is set.
The team announced the full staff on Tuesday along with a number of additions and title changes for coaches returning from 2025. Among the latter group is quarterbacks coach Josh McCown taking on the role of pass game coordinator and inside linebackers coach Mike Siravo adding a senior defensive assistant title.
Assistant defensive backs coach Chenzo Funari, assistant linebackers coach Dalmin Gibson, assistant wide receivers coach Derron Montgomery, assistant offensive coordinator Chris O’Hara, assistant defensive line coach Patrick Hill, and assistant quarterbacks coach/passing game specialist Jordan Traylor also have new titles.
The new hires are offensive quality control coach Kyle Caskey, assistant special teams coach Chili Davis, and defensive assistant Will Johnson.
Those coaches join special teams coordinator Matt Daniels, defensive coordinator Brian Flores, offensive coordinator Wes Phillips, assistant head coach Frank Smith, defensive passing game coordinator/defensive backs coach Gerald Alexander, outside linebackers coach Thad Bogardus, offensive line coach Keith Carter, tight ends coach/game management coordinator Ryan Cordell, wide receivers coach Keenan McCardell, offensive running game coordinator/running backs coach Curtis Modkins, defensive running game coordinator Ryan Nielsen, offensive assistant Ben Ellefson, defensive assistant Charlie Frye, assistant to the head coach Henry Schneider, and assistant offensive line coach Derek Warehime.
The Vikings’ plan to turn the quarterback job over to J.J. McCarthy did not go exactly as planned in 2025.
McCarthy got off to a rocky start before missing time with an ankle injury and his play remained uneven upon his return to action. He also missed games with a concussion and a hairline fracture to his hand in the second half of the season, which led to head coach Kevin O’Connell saying that the team plans to add competition to the position at his end of season press conference.
The Vikings fired General Manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah after O’Connell made those comments, but the plan to address the position hasn’t changed. Executive vice president of football operations Rob Brzezinski is currently handling the GM responsibilities and he said on Tuesday that the team is not “ruling anything out” at the moment.
“We have not a ton of time, but we have a couple of weeks and so we’re exploring every option that could be out there,” Brzezinski said, via Kevin Seifert of ESPN.com. “It’s casting a wide net, I guess I would say.”
O’Connell also spoke to reporters from the Scouting Combine and said “a lot of those feelings are still the same” when asked if the team continues to view McCarthy as their franchise quarterback but “the timeline is in a different place” than it was when McCarthy was taken in the first round in 2024. The search for another option indicates that things are in a significantly different place and the moves the Vikings make in the coming weeks will send a clearer signal about how they view the position in 2026.
The Colts made a great move at quarterback last year, getting quarterback Daniel Jones on a one-year, $14 million deal. Now, they have a big decision to make.
Re-sign Jones, risk letting him become a free agent, or use the franchise tag?
The challenge when it comes to using the franchise tag is obvious. It’s not cheap. The projected 2026 franchise tag for the quarterback position is $47.3 million.
That’s a massive commitment, especially in light of Jones’s current health. He’s recovering from a torn Achilles tendon, with no guarantee that he’ll be 100 percent when the season starts.
On the other hand, they risk losing him to another team that would pay more than whatever the Colts might offer. And the Vikings, in theory, could be lurking.
Last year, the Vikings wanted to pair Jones with J.J. McCarthy. Jones believed that coach Kevin O’Connell would work his usual magic with McCarthy, making it unlikely Jones would play. In Indy, Jones received a full and fair chance to win the job from Anthony Richardson — and Jones did.
This time around, Jones may believe he has a chance to play in Minnesota.
The Vikings developed a high opinion of Jones during their limited time with him in 2024. Their opinion of him was sufficiently high that some believed Jones had a chance to leapfrog Sam Darnold during the playoffs, if the Vikings had managed to win the wild-card game against the Rams.
Regardless, Jones remains under contract with the Colts. They have a week to decide whether to tag him.
The transition tag is also available. It would cost $40 million for 2026, giving them only the right to match an offer sheet.
It all comes down to Jones’s true market. Would someone offer him $40 million per year? But for the Achilles injury, maybe.
That said, the Falcons gave Kirk Cousins $45 million per year in 2024, while he was recovering from the same injury. And the market, as Tua Tagovailoa once said, is the market.
The Colts need to figure out what the market for Jones may be, before deciding whether to apply the franchise tag.
