Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson was able to play only four games as a rookie. But the team’s General Manager laid out his clear expectations for the young signal-caller in his Wednesday press conference.
“To play winning football,” Chris Ballard said, via transcript from the team. “There’s going to be some rollercoaster moments. I won’t say all, but most quarterbacks, when they’re young, go through those moments. There’s going to be. But learn from them, grow, and keep moving forward.
“I think you can just kind of look around the league with some guys that with Anthony’s skillset, it was a little bit up and down. One thing, I have a lot of confidence in Shane [Steichen] and [offensive coordinator] Jim Bob [Cooter] and all the offensive staff, they’ll do what he is really good at and comfortable doing and then what the offense can do.”
Ballard added that what will help Richardson the most is experience.
“The more he plays, the more he sees, the better it’s going to get,” Ballard said. “I do think he will do a better job protecting himself. I do think that is one area that you will see. But look, eventually the game starts and the instincts turn on, and so you’ll see.
“But just his understanding of the offense and what he likes — like that’s a big point of this now. You want the quarterback to have some belief in what he’s running and be a little more opinionated about, ‘Hey, I like — Shane, I like this. Jim Bob, this is something I feel comfortable with.’ And I think the more he plays, the more he’ll become vocal about that.”
Ballard also cautioned not to read too much into every play because there are natural ebbs and flows for any young player.
“[T]hey look bad and they’ll look great. Like, that’s normal,” Ballard said. “They get beat, they miss a pass, they drop a ball. I mean, [stuff] happens. Unfortunately, Twitter today accentuates on the one negative. There might be 10 positives, but there’s the one negative that they’ll pull out and just needle at.”
In four games last year, Richardson threw for 557 yards with three touchdowns and one interception. He also rushed for 136 yards with four TDs.