Morning Coffee: FanDuel bettor wins big with epic home run parlay

The Anthony Richardson experiment is over.

The Indianapolis Colts just cancelled that project.  

On Tuesday morning, head coach Shane Steichen announced Daniel Jones will be the team’s starting quarterback for the 2025 season.

Jones, who signed a one-year, $14 million contract with Indianapolis back in March, apparently “beat out” Richardson in the team’s QB1 battle this pre-season.

Of course, the decision has little to do with pre-season.

Jones admitted on Tuesday that his belief that he would play this year was a “big piece of why” he signed with the Colts this offseason in the first place.

Jones believed he would be the starting quarterback.

On Tuesday, Steichen reaffirmed that belief when he insisted Jones will be Indy’s starting QB for the entire season with Richardson serving as the primary backup.

Steichen, Jones, and Richardson all said the right things following Tuesday’s revelation, but Richardson’s agent signalled this is still a developing situation.

Following Steichen’s announcement, Richardson’s agent told ESPN reporter Stephen Holder, “trust is a big factor and that is, at best, questionable right now”.

“We have a lot to discuss.” Deiric Jackson told Holder.

The fact that Richardson is only three days older than the first overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft – Tennessee Titans quarterback Cam Ward – should have those discussions a lot more interesting.

When the Colts selected Richardson with the fourth overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, they understood that Richardson would need time and reps to develop.

Two years later, they’ve decided to reinvest that time and those reps in the veteran Jones, instead.

While his first two NFL seasons have been marred by injuries and inconsistencies, Richardson is still just 23-years-old, and he has the physical tools to make football fans optimistic about his potential to grow in this league.

The prevailing sentiment in NFL circles is that Richardson needs to play football if he’s going to improve.

Now we know he’s not expected to play in Indianapolis.

Steichen’s decision to roll with Jones as his starter signals there’s more to this story that emboldened his decision, and it might not necessarily show up in the film or on the stat sheet.

At the same time, the decision to go with Jones doesn’t necessarily significantly raise the ceiling of a team that is still considered more likely to miss than make the playoffs at FanDuel.

However, it does block the playing time that Richardson needs to have any shot to improve at the position.

That is why so many Colts fans are upset.

Transparently, I understand their frustration.

In the NFL, hope is like a form of currency.

Richardson was considered the ultimate lottery ticket.

While fans weren’t guaranteed anything with Richardson as their starter, his promise inspired an inflated level of optimism that one day he could eventually develop into a legitimate franchise quarterback in the NFL.

That was enough to convince Colts fans to believe.

With Jones at quarterback, any hope they had for both the present and the future appears to be in hold.

This is Morning Coffee for Wednesday August 20^th, 2025.

FanDuel Bettor Wins Big With Epic Home Run Parlay

Sticking with the theme of hope as a form of currency, we just witnessed arguably the greatest Dinger Tuesday ever.

There were 43 home runs in Tuesday’s MLB games.

Shohei Ohtani, Kyle Schwarber, and Aaron Judge are all chasing Cal Raleigh in the MLB’s home run leader race.

Ohtani, Schwarber, and Judge all went deep on Tuesday.

Those three stars also happened to be the three most popular bets to hit a home run at FanDuel.

Meanwhile, Giancarlo Stanton, Cody Bellinger, Jo Adell, and Jose Caballero each hit two home runs.

The New York Yankees matched a single-game franchise record with nine home runs in their 13-3 win over the Tampa Bay Rays.

The Yankees are the first team in MLB history to hit nine home runs in multiple games – both this season.

All of this added up to a legendary Dinger Tuesday.

One FanDuel bettor from the US turned a $25 bet into nearly $40K USD with a five-leg home run parlay.

I’ll admit it - I felt pretty good about the FanDuel Best Bets in Tuesday’s Morning Coffee column going 2-0.

Then all these Dinger Tuesday parlays made me feel like my favourite NFL team just named Daniel Jones its starting quarterback.

I thought about texting our resident Colts fan Luke Bellus to get his take on the situation in Indianapolis, but even he was too busy celebrating winning parlays last night to talk football with me.

With Ohtani, Schwarber, and Judge all going yard, the MLB Regular Season Home Runs Leader market at FanDuel was forced back into the spotlight.

Cal Raleigh has set the pace with 47 home runs and remains the favourite to lead the majors at -145.

Ohtani and Schwarber, who are tied for the National League-lead with 44 home runs each, are the second and third choices in that market at +210 and +350.

Judge remains a longshot to lead the majors at +1800.

The AL MVP favourite is currently seven back of Raleigh.

Of course, the focus north of the border remains on the division standings, as the Toronto Blue Jays maintained their five-game lead on New York with a win over the Pittsburgh Pirates last night.

The Blue Jays remain the AL East favourite at -340.

The Yankees, which have won four in a row and six of their last seven, are down to +330 as the second choice.

How concerned should Jays fans be this morning?

Toronto still has a five-game lead atop the division.

However, with New York heating up and a tough schedule on deck that features three more head-to-head meetings with the pinstripes in September, there’s still a lot more baseball left to play.

If nothing else, Yankees fans suddenly have a reason to believe their team can challenge for a division title again.

With six weeks left in the regular season, I’m not willing to write off the pinstripes just yet.

As for a FanDuel Best Bet for tonight’s MLB slate, I’ll roll with the Milwaukee Brewers at -116 against the Chicago Cubs.

The Brewers were bound to cool off eventually.

After a 14-game win streak, Milwaukee has dropped three of their last four games, including losing both games of a double-header against Chicago on Tuesday.

The Brewers rocketed to the top of the MLB standings with a red-hot July and August.

Milwaukee will play again tonight and then deal with a short turnaround with a getaway game for Thursday’s series finale in Chicago.

I’ll bank on big bounce back by the Brewers offence tonight against a Cubs side that has struggled with consistency since the MLB All-Star Break.

Give me Brewers ML -116 as a FanDuel Best.

Hopefully, we can stay hot with a winner tonight.

Have a great day, everyone!