INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indianapolis Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson returned to practice Thursday, marking the first time in two months he’s taken snaps.
He’s still not ready to challenge 44-year-old Philip Rivers for the starting job.
Coach Shane Steichen said Richardson’s fractured orbital bone has healed sufficiently enough for him to be cleared for practice but that he would not be activated before Monday night’s crucial game against the San Francisco 49ers and it’s still unclear whether Richardson will be activated before the end of this season.
“He has some vision limitations in his eye, but we’re going to get him back on the practice field, get him throwing, doing some scout team,” Steichen said. “So it’s something that he’s going to have to manage.”
Steichen said earlier this week that the Colts didn't sign Rivers to sit on the bench.
Richardson has been on injured reserve since mid-October when he was injured in a freak locker room accident while stretching with a band as part of his pregame warmup routine. The Colts (8-6) now have 21 days to activate Richardson or to shut him down for the rest of the season.
The Colts took Richardson with the No. 4 pick in the 2023 draft because of his tantalizing size, arm strength and mobility.
But injuries have limited Richardson to just 15 starts and 17 total appearances out of 48 possible games. He made only four starts as a rookie before needing season-ending surgery on his throwing shoulder. He missed six games in 2024 with back and hip injuries and dislocated his pinkie during a preseason game this year before losing the quarterback battle to Daniel Jones.
Richardson hasn't just struggled to stay on the field.
He's also had trouble with accuracy. His completion percentage, 47.7%, in 2024 was the lowest of any starter in the NFL. And in three seasons, he's compiled an 8-7 record, a completion percentage of 50.6% with 11 touchdown passes and 13 interceptions. So Richardson is eager for a fresh start — even if it doesn't come till next season.
“I feel normal, able to see, able to drive, walk around, not bump into anything so I feel normal,” said Richardson, who plans to continue wearing a visor underneath his face mask. “Sitting at home, it's not fun. It's really boring not being in the building as much when it first happened, not being around my teammates, not being able to go to the stadium and all that was really boring. But I thank God for being able to go out there and practice.”
Yet Rivers will continue to start after coming out of retirement last week when Jones suffered a season-ending torn Achilles tendon and backup quarterback Riley Leonard, a rookie, arrived at the team complex with an injured right knee.
Rivers joined Indy's practice squad last Tuesday and five days later was taking his first snaps in an NFL game in nearly five years. He nearly led the Colts to a come-from-behind victory at Seattle but the Seahawks kicked a late field goal to hand Indy its fourth consecutive loss, 18-16.
Rivers said Thursday he feels much more comfortable after having a full week to prepare for the 49ers (10-4).
“Really trying to dive into San Francisco and take advantage of the extra day, get into a normal game week,” the Pro Football Hall of Fame semifinalist said. “Last week was a normal game week but not really because it was all ramped up, pretty fast. This has felt like more of a normal game week where we're able to get started on Monday and Tuesday, so it's felt somewhat routine from a standpoint of the daily operation.”
Indy needs Rivers to play well the last three weeks as it tries to end a four-year playoff drought. They face three strong defenses and three teams fighting to make the playoffs — San Francisco, two-time defending AFC South champion Houston (9-5) and AFC South-leading Jacksonville (10-4).
Indy has lost five of six, sliding out of the division lead and into the No. 8 seed, which would leave them one spot short of making the AFC's seven-team playoff field.
The 49ers, meanwhile, have won four straight as they try to leapfrog the Los Angeles Rams (11-3) and Seattle Seahawks (11-3) in the NFC West to capture the No. 1 seed in the NFC.
AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL
FILE - Indianapolis Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson Sr. stands on the sidelines during an NFL football game against the Houston Texans, Nov. 30, 2025, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Zach Bolinger, File)
Indianapolis Colts quarterback Philip Rivers (17) leaves the field after an NFL football game against the Seattle Seahawks, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Stephen Brashear)
Indianapolis Colts quarterback Philip Rivers (17) reacts after throwing an interception during the second half of an NFL football game against the Seattle Seahawks, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Stephen Brashear)
MILWAUKEE (AP) — Prosecutors on Thursday tried to convince a jury that a Wisconsin judge put her personal beliefs above the law and helped a Mexican immigrant evade federal authorities seeking to arrest him in the courthouse.
Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan did not take the stand in her own defense as she faces obstruction and concealment charges. The case was expected to head to the jury late Thursday following closing arguments.
“You don’t have to agree with immigration enforcement policy to see this was wrong," Assistant U.S. Attorney Kelly Brown Watzka told the jury in closing arguments. "You just have to agree the law applies equally to everyone.”
The highly unusual charges against a sitting judge are an extraordinary consequence of President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown. Dugan’s supporters say Trump is looking to make an example of her to blunt judicial opposition to immigration arrests.
Prosecutors have tried to show that Dugan intentionally interfered with members of a federal immigration task force's efforts to arrest 31-year-old Eduardo Flores-Ruiz at the Milwaukee County Courthouse.
Brown Watzka told the jury that Dugan provided Flores-Ruiz with an escape route.
“A judge does not have absolute authority to do whatever she wants whenever she puts on her robe,” Brown Watzka said. “The defendant is not on trial for her views on immigration policy. She is on trial because she made a series of deliberate decisions to step outside the law in order to help an individual evade federal arrest.”
Brown Watzka pointed out that Dugan had a whispered discussion with her court reporter about which of them should guide Flores-Ruiz out the private door and down a back staircase out of the arrest team’s sight.
Flores-Ruiz ultimately did not take the stairs and instead went through the private door into the public hallway, but Brown Watzka said that means nothing.
“The only thing that matters is the defendant’s intent,” she said. “The stairs discussion proves beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant intended to prevent the arrest.”
Dugan's attorneys called four witnesses Thursday, including a public defender who took photographs of the arrest team in the hallway and two judges who testified that a draft policy about how to handle immigration arrests was in flux in the weeks before Flores-Ruiz’s arrest.
Former Milwaukee mayor and Democratic congressman Tom Barrett testified that he’s known Dugan since high school and described her as “extremely honest.”
Officers who came to arrest Flores-Ruiz on April 18 testified that they learned he was in the country illegally after he was arrested in Milwaukee on state battery charges. They testified that Dugan and another judge, Kristela Cervera, stepped into the hallway wearing their robes. Dugan angrily told four members of the team to report to the chief judge's office, the officers testified.
As Cervera led them to the office, Dugan returned to her courtroom and led Flores-Ruiz out a private door into the hallway. Prosecutors produced transcripts of audio recordings from microphones in her courtroom that show Dugan told her court reporter that she'd take “the heat” for showing Flores-Ruiz out the private door.
Two agents Dugan missed during her confrontations with the team followed Flores-Ruiz outside, and a foot chase through traffic ensued before he was finally arrested. Members of the team testified that Dugan divided them and forced them out of position, leaving them too short-handed to make a safe arrest in the hallway.
Dugan's attorneys argued that the arrest team could have apprehended Flores-Ruiz at any point after he emerged from the courtroom and Dugan shouldn't be blamed for their decision to wait until he got outside.
The case is a “shot across the bow” to state judges everywhere meant to intimidate them, said Howard Schweber, a political scientist and affiliate faculty of the University of Wisconsin Law School.
“It is unthinkable that this prosecution would have been brought in a prior administration,” Schweber said. “This is truly extraordinary, I would even say unprecedented certainly in my adult lifetime. I have never seen anything like it. And professionally its quite shocking.”
Dugan’s team filed a motion late Wednesday asking U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman, who is presiding over the case, to find Dugan not guilty without asking jurors to deliberate. Adelman did not immediately rule Thursday on the motion, which is common after prosecutors present their case.
Associated Press writer Scott Bauer contributed to this report.
This courtroom sketch depicts Maura Gingerich at Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan's trial in court, Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025 in Milwaukee, Wis. (Adela Tesnow via AP, Pool)
This courtroom sketch depicts Judge Katie Kegel at Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan's trial in court, Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025 in Milwaukee, Wis. (Adela Tesnow via AP, Pool)
This courtroom sketch depicts Judge Laura Gramling Perez at Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan's trial in court, Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025 in Milwaukee, Wis. (Adela Tesnow via AP, Pool)
This courtroom sketch depicts Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan in court, Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025 in Milwaukee, Wis. (Adela Tesnow via AP)
