At the NFL annual owners meetings in Phoenix on Sunday, Indianapolis Colts owner and CEO Carlie Irsay-Gordon was asked directly about Anthony Richardson.
Richardson was the fourth overall pick in the 2023 draft who has been on the trade block since February. What she said was warm, gracious, and pointed squarely toward the exit.
“I think Anthony, I’m proud of the way he’s handled himself,” Irsay-Gordon told The Athletic’s James Boyd. “He’s so immensely talented, and I feel like the world is his oyster. He totally has an opportunity to have a career in the NFL if he wants to. I just feel so bad that he’s getting the short end of the stick with injuries.”
The language of someone defending a player they plan to keep does not sound like that. It sounds like a eulogy for a relationship that both sides have already agreed is finished.
Irsay-Gordon has been measured and consistent throughout this situation, and what she said Sunday at the owners meetings is entirely consistent with everything else she has said about Richardson.
The difference is that when she said “stay in my lane” in January, the trade had not yet been officially announced. Now it has been, and Sunday’s comments are the most definitive thing she has said about him since.
Who Is Carlie Irsay-Gordon?
Irsay-Gordon, 45, became the principal owner and CEO of the Indianapolis Colts in June 2025 following the death of her father, Jim Irsay, who died of cardiac arrest on May 21, 2025.
She had served as Vice Chair and Owner since 2012 and had been attending NFL ownership meetings on behalf of the Colts since 2004. The transition had been planned by Jim Irsay long before his death.
He had always intended the franchise to pass to his three daughters, Irsay-Gordon, Casey Foyt, and Kalen Jackson, and had said publicly that his dream was for his grandchildren to one day own the team.
Irsay-Gordon was born in Dallas when her father was attending Southern Methodist University but grew up in Indianapolis.
She studied religious studies and geoscience at Skidmore College, graduating in 2005, then began coursework toward a PhD in clinical psychology at Argosy University before joining the Colts front office full-time.
She started in the ticket office and worked through marketing and strategy before being named team vice president in 2008. Her management style as CEO became a consistent subject of coverage throughout the 2025 NFL season.
She watches games from the sideline wearing a headset and holding a playcall sheet, attends position meetings, and by the account of multiple players, can be found in virtually any meeting happening within the building on any given day.
“She’s genuinely just trying to learn and educate herself on the whole complexity of being an NFL owner,” linebacker Anthony Walker Jr. told ESPN in a profile during the 2025 season.
Linebacker Zaire Franklin put it more succinctly: “There’s a comfortability because we’re so familiar. But, make no mistake, she’s in charge.”
The Richardson Timeline
Anthony Richardson was selected fourth overall by the Indianapolis Colts in the 2023 NFL Draft out of the University of Florida. He was raw, physically spectacular, and carried the kind of upside that produces top-five selections.
The Colts, still searching for a long-term answer at quarterback seven years after Andrew Luck’s retirement, needed him to work.
In three seasons, he appeared in 17 games. That tells most of the story on its own. In his rookie year he started four games before a season-ending shoulder injury.
His 2024 season produced more opportunities but disappointing results. His completion rate was 47.7 percent. He threw 12 interceptions against 8 touchdowns in 11 starts.
The Colts briefly benched him in favor of Joe Flacco before returning to Richardson, a cycle that reflected the franchise’s inability to commit to any solution.
His 2025 season did not happen at all. During pregame warmups, a pole attached to a stretching band snapped and struck him in the face, fracturing his orbital bone and causing an eye injury that put him on injured reserve for the year. He played five snaps.
Across three seasons Richardson has recorded 50.6 percent completion rate, 2,400 passing yards, 11 touchdowns, 13 interceptions, 634 rushing yards, 10 rushing touchdowns.
The rushing production shows what he can do when healthy. The passing numbers show why the Colts could not build around him.
How The Colts Got Here
Before Irsay-Gordon became CEO she was already watching the Richardson situation develop with increasing clarity.
When the Colts signed Daniel Jones on a one-year deal worth $14 million ahead of the 2025 season, the contract value alone was a signal. Richardson’s cap hit was considerably lower.
Paying a backup nearly 150 percent of what your supposed franchise quarterback earns is not a show of confidence.
Jones won the starting job in training camp. Richardson was shocked by the decision, according to his agent.
Then Richardson was injured in October and missed the rest of the year. Jones went 8-2 as a starter before suffering a torn Achilles on December 7, 2025. Rookie sixth-round pick Riley Leonard started the season finale against the Houston Texans and impressed.
When the Colts re-signed Jones to a new contract on March 11, 2026 and Leonard remained on the roster as a capable backup, Richardson had no path back.
Irsay-Gordon’s public statements have tracked the situation precisely. At the January owners meetings she said: “I think I’m going to stay in my lane on that one. But I feel horrible for Anthony with the injuries that he’s had to endure, and I know Chris and Shane are going to do the right thing.”
In February, the Colts and Richardson mutually agreed to seek a trade. At the NFL Scouting Combine, general manager Chris Ballard said Richardson had been medically cleared and stopped short of saying he needed a fresh start elsewhere, but the direction was obvious.
The Vikings were identified as one team with interest.
What Sunday’s Comments Mean
Irsay-Gordon also spoke at length Sunday about Daniel Jones and the direction of the franchise.
She described the team’s mindset heading into 2026 as pressing play on a paused movie, picking up from where the Colts were when Jones went 8-2 before his injury. “Everything points to his rehab going great, everything went well,” she said of Jones. “And he’s gonna do all of the right things, so I’m really convicted that he’s gonna be good.”
On the Jones situation she also addressed why the quarterback-coach relationship drove the decision to bring him back despite the injury. “If your head coach doesn’t believe in your quarterback, you’re kind of screwed,” she said. “I think Shane and Daniel really align the way our system works.” That alignment, she made clear, is what the Colts are betting on in 2026.
Richardson gets none of that language. He gets pride in how he handled himself.
He gets “world is his oyster.” He gets sympathy about injuries. Those are kind words for a player the organization believes in as a person and is done with as a Colt.
Irsay-Gordon also addressed the private equity question at the meetings, confirming the sisters have no intention of bringing in outside ownership investment at this time, though she acknowledged the question will come up again when Lucas Oil Stadium, now nearly 20 years old, requires expensive renovation. “We have a beautiful building that has amazing bones, but we’re going to need to renovate it,” she said.
The Richardson trade market has been slow to develop. ESPN’s Stephen Holder reported as recently as two weeks ago that no deal is imminent but that interest is picking up, with the Green Bay Packers among teams to watch after losing backup Malik Willis to the Dolphins in free agency.
The Vikings, who have J.J. McCarthy as their starter but need depth, remain in the picture.
Richardson is 23 years old. He has a right arm that produces throws most quarterbacks cannot make and a running ability that changes what a defense has to prepare for.
The person who can unlock what he is capable of is out there. The Colts have concluded, through three years and 17 games, that it is not them. Carlie Irsay-Gordon said as much on Sunday, in the warmest possible terms.
