A healthy offseason for Indianapolis Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson will have to be a catalyst for improved play in his upcoming third NFL season.
This past year, Richardson didn’t make the strides that everyone was hoping for. In fact, he seemed to regress in some areas. Richardson completed a league-low 47.7% of his passes and threw 12 interceptions to just eight touchdowns.
As GM Chris Ballard said during his season-ending press conference, more consistency from Richardson is needed. Then, in addition to the on-field ups and downs, Richardson was benched for two games, with the team wanting him to refocus on his day-to-day preparation.
As always, there are numerous factors that contributed to Richardson’s performance in 2024, but not helping things was that he was coming off a season-ending injury during his rookie season in 2023 that lingered into the offseason as he worked his way back from it.
We often hear about players make that Year 2 jump. In part, that comes from the experience gained as rookies, which Richardson didn’t have much of, appearing in only four games in 2023. Also a part of that equation is having a full offseason to hone in on their craft rather than going through the pre-draft process. Again, this was something that Richardson didn’t have the full capacity of a year ago.
Although Richardson’s 2024 season ended with him missing the final two games due to back spasms, according to ESPN’s Stephen Holder, Richardson has already resumed throwing since the season ended and is back to “performing football movements.”
Neither the team nor Richardson anticipate the back spasms to to linger, so Richardson will enter this year’s offseason healthy and able to train.
Holder also noted that part of Richardson’s 2025 offseason process will be working with a biometric expert, the same who worked with Bills’ quarterback Josh Allen, to help refine his throwing mechanics.
Now, having said all of that, none of this guarantees that Richardson will find success in 2025, but it does put him in a better position to do so than this time last year.
With Richardson’s on-field inconsistencies, along with dealing with numerous injuries during his first two NFL seasons, Ballard said there will be competition for the third-year quarterback this season. In what capacity that will take place–through free agency or the draft–remains to be seen, however.