Anthony Richardson hopes to throw next month, doesn't think he must change playing style

INDIANAPOLIS — Anthony Richardson has thought plenty about the plays that knocked him out of games, and ultimately the regular season, this year.

There are times that the Colts quarterback, no longer a rookie, could have done a better job protecting himself.

But Richardson, a dynamic runner who averaged 5.4 yards per carry and scored four touchdowns on just 25 carries this season, does not believe he needs to change his playing style entirely, try to become a pocket passer instead of a dual threat.

“I feel like I’m going to stay the same, keep being me,” Richardson said. “I can’t try to run through everybody. If it’s first-and-10, I need to get what I can get, get down, get out of bounds, get to the sideline, do what I can do. ..  But if the game is on the line, I’ve got to go out there and compete.”

Richardson was knocked out of the season opener late with a bruised knee, suffered a concussion as he scored a touchdown against Houston, then suffered a season-ending injury to the AC joint in his throwing shoulder that ultimately forced him to undergo surgery, ending his rookie year after just four starts and 173 plays.

Initially, he contemplated trying to play through the injury.

 “Of course I was hesitant,” Richardson said. “I didn’t want to get the surgery at first, I didn’t want to be out for the season. … After talking to the training staff, getting different opinions from different doctors, talking to my agent and my family, they said, long-term, this was the best thing for me to do, because if I did try to go out there and play again, I probably wouldn’t be able to throw it.”

Richardson joked that he briefly considered trying to throw with his left hand to get back on the field, saying he can throw the ball 30 yards with his other hand, although not accurately.

But he’s spent most of the season focused instead on learning in the classroom, learning coverages and going through extensive conversations with Colts head coach Shane Steichen about how he sees football, how Richardson sees defenses and how he can improve.

He’s been trying to speed up his rehabilitation as much as possible.  

“Every day I’m trying to push the trainers to go a little harder with me so I can get back to throwing and get back on the field,” Richardson said. “I’m excited, I’m ready to start throwing again.”

Colts news:10 thoughts on the 2023 season and where to go with Anthony Richardson and Shane Steichen

Richardson has a target date.

The Colts quarterback will spend most of the offseason going back and forth between Indianapolis and Jacksonville — his offseason quarterbacks coach, Denny Thompson, is based in Jacksonville — with an eye toward throwing again at some point in February.

“I know it’s soon, it’s supposed to be sometime next month,” Richardson said. “I don’t have an exact date right now, but whenever that day does come, I’m going to be trying to light it up.”

The Colts have been optimistic throughout the process that the decision to put Richardson through surgery would allow him to make a full recovery long-term.

Once Richardson is back in the lineup, though, the conversation will turn towards keeping him on the field.

“It’s a tough balance, because you don’t want to take away. .. And it was a little like this with Andrew,” Colts general manager Chris Ballard said. “Instinctively, when you get in a game, you react to whatever your instincts take you to. To tell him, ‘hey, you’ve got to get down or get out of bounds,’ Andrew would always tell me ‘Chris, my instincts and my competitive nature takes over.’ … Learning when to get out of bounds, when to get down vs. when to go for it, those are going to be things he’s going to have to learn.”

Richardson sprained his AC joint in high school, suffered a concussion and a torn meniscus at Florida and likely will take more hits than other players, given his ability to run the ball.

“I’ve been dealing with that my whole football career,” Richardson said. “I’m a big, physical guy, I love to play physical, and people don’t really expect that from QBs. There is a time and a place to be physical.”

The NFL has changed, shifting toward quarterbacks who can make plays with their legs in the running game, and the Colts do not want to take that part of Richardson’s game away from him.

“One of the things that makes him really good is (his ability) as a runner,” Steichen said in October. “A lot of those guys around the league that run and make plays, that’s what helps your offense.”

And not just because of the plays Richardson makes.

When Richardson was in the lineup, the attention he draws from defenders creates gaps for other runners — running back Zack Moss was nearly a yard per carry better in games Richardson started than the games he played after Richardson’s injury.

A cost comes with that playing style, although the attrition of the 2023 NFL season suggests that quarterbacks who play more of a pocket style can get hurt as well, even if running quarterbacks like Justin Fields and Lamar Jackson have dealt with their fair share of injuries the past couple of seasons.

Richardson’s analyzed every one of his injuries.

“Some of the injuries were unfortunate, like my ankle getting stepped on, hitting my knee on the turf really hard. … Stuff that I can’t control,” Richardson said. “The ones that I can control, I’ve got to prevent those, like me slowing up near the end zone and getting the concussion. That’s completely on me.”

The shoulder injury was tougher to prevent.

And not entirely preventable if Richardson wasn’t a runner. A handful of other quarterbacks, Jacksonville’s Trevor Lawrence and New Orleans’ Derek Carr among them, suffered AC joint sprains this season, although not as serious as Richardson’s

“Getting tackled, I can’t really prevent that,” Richardson said. “I was just trying to brace myself for it, and unfortunately, my shoulder did what I did. I don’t think I have to change the way I play, just be a little smarter when the time does come.”

What the Colts saw from Richardson in his 173 snaps was tantalizing.

Indianapolis wants to see plenty more like it.