Source: Justin Casterline / Getty
INDIANAPOLIS – There’s light at the end of the tunnel for Anthony Richardson’s rehab.
Richardson expects to start throwing coming up in February, which will hover right around the 4-month mark from his post-surgery.
If that indeed happens, it would leave Richardson around 3 months of ramp up time before the Colts begin their OTA portion of the 2024 offseason program.
On Thursday morning, Richardson met the media for the final time in his rookie season.
It was a rookie campaign that ended in Week 5, with Richardson landing on his throwing shoulder on a hit from Titans defensive end Harold Landry.
After initially thinking he would play again in 2023, Richardson saw the big picture and agreed to season-ending surgery.
That meant Richardson’s season lasting just 173 offensive snaps, spread across 4 games.
“Of course, I was hesitant,” Richardson said about deciding upon surgery. “I didn’t want to get surgery at first. I didn’t want to be out for the season, my rookie season, first year, I wanted to play and be out there with the team.
“But after talking with the training staff and getting different opinions from different doctors and talking with my agent, 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, just run. And I don’t want to just run the ball. I want to throw it, too.”
Richardson said the injury opened his eyes to the need to stay healthy.
Stylistically, Richardson doesn’t plan to alter his individual game too much though. He knows the Colts drafted him “to be AR,” but it’s also important to know time and score for attacking future situations on the field.
“It’s just a matter of being out there and learning when to get down,” the 21-year-old said on Thursday. “Some of the injuries were unfortunate, hitting my knee on the turf pretty hard, stuff that I can’t control. But the ones that I can control, I got to prevent those. Like me slowing down (in Houston) near the end zone and getting the concussion, that’s completely on me. Getting tackled (against the Titans), I can’t really prevent that. I was trying to brace myself for it and unfortunately, my shoulder did what it did.
“It’s being a little smarter when the time is needed. I can’t try to run through everybody. If its 1st-and-10, get what I can get and get down, get to the sidelines, get out of bounds. But if the game is on the line, go out there and compete. It’s just a matter of being smart for myself and for the team.”
Being out for the season though was difficult for Richardson to grasp.
This is not some oft-injured quarterback who had previously dealt with substantial time away from the field.
“Not going to lie, those first few weeks were definitely hard for me. I’ve never missed a season of football. I’ve dealt with injuries before but never sat out games, never was told my season was done. So it definitely did hurt me. I just talked to a few different people and just sat down and realized I’m blessed to be in the NFL, on this team, sitting here talking to you all.
“I just had to look at the bigger picture and just understanding it’s all about the process. It was definitely tough but after talking with some people, letting my emotions out a bit, I kind of came around and understood my purpose in this building.”
Some of those conversations, of course, came with Shane Steichen.
It’s clear Richardson is quite happy to have Steichen guiding him on this NFL journey.
“Just him, his offensive mindset, his relentless effort every day to get better as a coach, and him just pushing us as players is great for me,” Richardson said. “He teaches me a lot about offense and defenses. He makes it easy for us, as an offense, to go out there and execute because he sees it way different. I’m extremely thankful for him but I’m just excited to see what we do down the road.”
Richardson will continue to rehab for a few more weeks before heading back to Jacksonville to further his rehab/training. He will bounce back and forth between Jacksonville and Indy before the offseason program begins in April.
On Thursday when asked about his biggest on-field surprise from his rookie season, Richardson expressed pleasant surprise/confirmation at how he played at this level. Yes, the sample size was small, but Richardson came away pleased by how he played in those 4 games. And the rookie was adamant, had he played the rest of the season, the Colts would have made the postseason.
Nothing brought a bigger smile to Richardson’s face on Thursday than being asked about playing with Jonathan Taylor.
Richardson said he has gone home and watched JT highlights, as Colts fans should be very eager to see that duo in the backfield after the two played just one together snap last season.
Like normal, Richardson walked that line on Thursday of being uber confident in his abilities moving forward, while also pointing to the commitment of work needed to get there.
“This is all just part of my journey,” No. 5 said.
“This is just another something I can write in my book and talk about when I get older.”
