Anthony Richardson’s latest injury update is provided by the Colts HC.
It wasn’t the outcome that prevented the Indianapolis Colts from having the season they had planned for.
Given that Anthony Richardson didn’t get a lot of playing time or reps in college, they intended to have him on the field so he could learn from his mistakes and improve.
Richardson was spectacular in the few games he could play before suffering a season-ending shoulder injury.
And while he won’t be able to take the field in quite a while, HC Shane Steichen recently stated that he’s still with the team getting some ‘mental reps,’ going through the game plan, the meetings, and whatnot:
“Obviously, he’s not taking the reps, but he’s taking the mental reps in the classroom with us, still going through the game plan meetings,” Steichen said. “So, even when he’s on the sidelines during games, (he’s) taking that mental rep on the sidelines, hearing the calls. I think going through that will be big through the first part of the process.”
Richardson threw for three touchdowns and rushed for an additional four in four starts as a rookie.
He was uberly aggressive, sometimes to a fault, which led to multiple injuries.
Of course, there will always be some serious durability concerns with guys with his playing style, especially after watching him miss so much time early in his career.
But he proved to have the highest upside of all QBs in his class despite the limited sample size.
Richardson barely played in college, and he’s still raw and a work in progress.
They need to have him back on the field as soon as they can to accelerate his development.
Still, those ‘mental reps’ could do wonders for him in terms of helping him get a better understanding of the game and NFL defenses, although there’s nothing like actually being on the field and playing to help a player improve.
