Anthony Richardson to Vikings trade proposal by ESPN gets a stamp of approval originally appeared on The Sporting News.
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Anthony Richardson has mostly worn out his welcome with the Indianapolis Colts.
The former top-five pick has battled injuries and ineffectiveness, and last year he lost the starting QB job to Daniel Jones. He appears highly unlikely to get it back.
That could make him a logical trade candidate at some point before the 2026 season arrives.
“Richardson requested a trade in February, and the Colts agreed to try and accommodate him,” ESPN’s Stephen Holder wrote in a new article on Wednesday. “No deal has materialized yet, but Richardson’s decision earlier this month to finally show up for voluntary offseason workouts hasn’t changed his position. A future in Indianapolis seems doubtful after a messy three seasons filled with injuries, benchings and wavering by the Colts.”
As part of the aforementioned ESPN article, their analyst Seth Walder proposed a way the Minnesota Vikings could end up with Richardson.
He would offer a 2027 fifth-round pick for the young QB.
“Richardson can come to the Kevin O’Connell school of quarterbacks and learn behind another mobile QB in Kyler Murray, who is on just a one-year contract with Minnesota,” Walder writes. “Richardson’s deal expires in 2027, too, but his acquisition would give the Vikings more options going forward. Maybe Murray works out great and becomes the long-term starter in Minnesota. Or maybe Murray heads elsewhere and the Vikings see enough growth from Richardson to keep him around.”
Holder thinks that would be enough to get a deal done, too.
“The win-win here is Walder’s offer from the Vikings,” Holder writes. “First, it gives the Colts a fifth-rounder without a pick swap like Solak’s offer from Detroit. And Minnesota’s fifth-rounder will likely come earlier than Green Bay’s fifth-rounder, giving this deal the edge over Fowler’s pitch. Additionally, it would allow Indianapolis to accommodate Richardson, as Ballard has said he’d like to do, by pairing him with a QB developer in O’Connell. That’s precisely what Richardson has been hoping for.”
Things would get crowded in a hurry in Minnesota, and a move like this could be a domino that also leads to a Vikings trade of J.J. McCarthy somewhere else.
Richardson’s tools, though, might still be worth betting on, and this would be the Vikings doing just that without a massive cost.