It wasn’t ideal that Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson missed most of his rookie season with a right shoulder injury, but it might not have hampered his development as much as some may have feared.
While Richardson couldn’t learn on-field lessons, head coach Shane Steichen said Richardson “had that opportunity to sit back and watch.” That allowed Richardson to create a “memory bank full of different looks and things we’re going to run in the season.”
It’s a process that Richardson says makes him more comfortable running the offense than he was at this time last year.
“The communication is definitely, has advanced for us. Last year was more so, ‘OK, follow the read, do this,’” Richardson said, via Michael Marot of the Associated Press. “Now it’s like, ‘OK if the defense does this, now I want you to think about this right here.’ Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. But it’s just trying to find ways to tweak our offense and get comfortable with each other. But I definitely feel like there’s been a huge jump from last year to this year.”
If all goes according to plan in Indianapolis, Richardson will have a full season to show just how much his command of the offense has grown.