News broke on Tuesday that the Indianapolis Colts are benching the fourth-overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, Anthony Richardson, in favor of 30-year-old Joe Flacco.

This comes just days after Richardson was briefly benched during the Colts‘ 23-20 loss to the Houston Texans and later said that he had asked to come out of the game because he was tired.

That didn’t impress too many people, and it certainly didn’t impress ex-NFL QB Chase Daniel who ripped Richardson for losing the respect of those around him.

Daniel — who played in the league from 2010 to 2022 during stints with the Saints, Chiefs, Bears, Chargers, Lions, and Eagles — spoke to The Athletic’s Diana Russini about Richardson telling the press he was gassed.

“Lie,” Daniel said. “Lie to the media. Do not ever say that again in your entire career. You just lost the respect of every football player and every quarterback and every offensive lineman to ever have played the game,” Daniel said. 

“I’m being harsh, Dianna, but that’s what this has called for. I have never seen this in my entire life. It is inexcusable. It is inexplicable, and he should be seriously thought about getting benched.”

Well, Daniel got his wish, because, as we mentioned Richardson did get benched.

And, yeah, he was a little harsh, but was it unwarranted? I don’t think so.

Richardson has battled injury in his first two years in the league, but as far as playing time goes, he hasn’t seen a ton of mileage.

He has appeared in 4 of the team’s 8 games so far this season and appeared in just four last season.

The NFL season is a marathon, not a sprint, and the guy tapped to be the Colts franchise QB is so tired they have to bench him in favor of a guy who has appeared in almost 200 games. 

That’s a problem, and it will be fascinating to see how the Colts handle this situation in the weeks to come.