Why Anthony Richardson is a perfect fit in the present, and the future, in Indianapolis

You can pinpoint with near-perfect accuracy the moment the 2023 NFL Draft changed.

It was a Saturday in Indianapolis, within the confines of Lucas Oil Stadium. The quarterbacks were set to work out, and over the course of a few hours, Anthony Richards ran, jumped, and yes threw his way into the hearts of draft evaluators, and changed the trajectory of the 2023 NFL Draft.

Gone was the notion that Richardson was an intriguing mid-first-round prospect. In its place was a debate over whether Richardson might have pushed his way into the QB1 debate.

Maybe even into the first overall selection debate.

While Richardson did not end up as QB1, or the first player selected, we now know where he will begin his NFL career.

In that same stadium where the conversation shifted.

The Indianapolis Colts drafted Richardson with the fourth-overall selection on Thursday night, putting him in position to work with Shane Steichen, the new Colts head coach.

That is part of the reason why Richardson’s fit in Indianapolis is perfect for both the present, and the future.

The knock on him is that he is raw, that he needs a lot of work, and that he might need a year — or two — to develop before he can take the field.

However, that notion undersells what Richardson does well already, and greatly minimizes the talent he will bring to an NFL field this fall. Sure you know about the athleticism, and as you are reading this your network of choice is likely showing the jump fake against Utah, his long run against LSU, or the dazzling pocket movement against Tennessee, to highlight areas where he excels.

While those are all impressive plays, and point to his potential floor in the NFL (more on that in a moment) there are also moments where you see nuance in his execution from the pocket.

Moments that speak to his potential NFL ceiling.

One such moment is this play against USF from earlier this fall. Florida faces a 2nd and 20 in their own territory and aligns in a 2x2 formation. USF shows Richardson single-high coverage before the snap. The Gators run a smash concept to the right side, with the slot receiver running a deep corner route, and the boundary receiver running a hitch.

Right at the snap, however, the Bulls spin their safeties into Cover 2, with a pair of safeties deep. As this play unfolds, pay attention first to Richardson’s eyes, and then what happens to the cornerback to that side of the field, #3:

Richardson puts his eyes on the middle of the field right at the snap, to decipher the coverage. Once he confirms that South Florida is spinning into two-high, he gets his eyes on the hitch route. That puts the cornerback in a bind, and you can see how he is caught between covering the boundary receiver on the hitch route and getting depth underneath the corner route.

So what does Richardson do? Armed with the space to throw the deeper route — space he helped create with his eyes — the QB throws the corner route, putting it in a perfect spot for a 33-yard gain.

Take this touchdown against Georgia:

Florida runs an out/go combination to the right side of the field, against another two-deep coverage. Richardson expects the cornerback to trap the out route here, which does happen, and that opens a narrow opportunity to target the vertical route along the boundary.

But the quarterback has to then navigate the safety, who is rotating over to make a play on the vertical route. How does he solve this problem? First by identifying the threat — college football games are filled with quarterbacks that fail to anticipate the safety rotating over from that spot on the field and throwing this ball right to them — and then by putting this throw in a perfect spot, right over the safety’s head and into the waiting arms of Florida WR Xzavier Henderson for a touchdown.

Again, this is a pretty impressive example of quarterback play, not from outside the pocket, but from within.

One last example of Richardson working from the pocket to break down a defense comes from his game against Florida State. On this play, a 1st and 10 situation, the Seminoles flip their safeties at the snap: The safety that was deep buzzes downhill, while the safety that aligned in the box on the left side of the offense drops deep.

Watch how Richardson, again, uses his eyes to influence the safety dropping deep, holding him to the left side of the field. This creates space for Ricky Pearsall, running a post route from the right slot:

Another defender influenced, another big play for the offense, and another example of Richardson operating at a high level from the pocket.

These plays speak to the quarterback he can become from the pocket, and the foundation Steichen has to work with as the two begin to work together.

But there is another reason why this could be the ideal pairing between player and coach.

Jalen Hurts.

After all, Steichen was part of an organization that turned Hurts into an intriguing backup option into an NFC Championship and, briefly, the highest-paid player in NFL history. During that journey, Steichen helped Hurts evolve from an athletic quarterback in a run-first offense, to a true threat from the pocket.

Steichen has “proof of concept” when it comes to developing an athletic quarterback.

For this reason, Indianapolis is perhaps the ideal landing spot for Richardson. Steichen can bring him along the same way he evolved Hurts. Using him in an offense focused on the running game — with Richardson as a true weapon in that system — while filling out what he does from the pocket. That athleticism he showed both on the field for Florida, and in Indianapolis during the Combine, can give him a way to see the field early, setting the floor for how he can be used effectively in an NFL offense.

And as we noted above, there is a lot to like about what he did from the pocket. Which gets us to the idea of his ceiling.

There will be talk in the next few weeks and months about Richardson needing to sit, and with Gardner Minshew in place, the Colts can take their time. But there is a roadmap to getting Richardson onto the field quickly in Indianapolis.

That roadmap turned Hurts into a star.

Now Colts fans are hoping that history repeats itself.