Indianapolis Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson is healthy and gearing up for Year 2 after injuries sideswiped his rookie campaign. The 22-year-old believes his second offseason in coach Shane Steichen's scheme has afforded more command.
"It's definitely easier to manage our offense now," Richardson said at training camp, via The Associated Press. "I'm a lot more comfortable, a lot more comfortable with the call Shane is calling in. It has been good so far -- making plays with the offense, diving deeper into the offense and learning a lot more, and then just trying to take advantage of the defense."
Richardson appeared in just four games as a rookie and had his season end due to a shoulder injury in Week 5. While learning under fire would have been ideal, the time on the sideline gave Richardson a different perspective of how to run the offense.
"He had that opportunity to sit back and watch," Steichen said. "Throughout the season, you have extra meetings with him on the side and just going through football stuff, football knowledge, just keep getting that memory bank full of different looks and things we're going to run in the season."
The QB has also looked in better sync with his wideouts during camp.
"The communication is definitely, has advanced for us. Last year was more so, 'OK, follow the read, do this,'" Richardson said. "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."
Much of the Colts' potential in 2024 rests on Richardson staying healthy and improving on the flashes of brilliance we saw from the dynamic quarterback in 2023.
