The Indianapolis Colts’ three-day mandatory minicamp is set to begin June 13. During all this, the biggest headliner to come out is the ongoing investigation on Isaiah Rodgers and his gambling. However, one other player who has received a lot of attention is young quarterback Anthony Richardson.
It’s no surprise considering he’s the team’s first-round pick and he is projected to be the team’s new franchise quarterback. Richardson has had some mixed reviews, but that is to be expected. However, NFL Media league insider Cameron Wolfe had a bold claim about the young QB’s future after watching his early work with the Indianapolis Colts.
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“I think in 3 years we could be looking at Anthony Richardson as one of the best Quarterbacks in football,” Wolfe said on “Ken Lavicka Live” recently.
Anthony Richardson will be NFL-ready sooner rather than later
There is no question that in watching the available highlights from the Indianapolis Colts’ OTAs Richardson is making strides. Especially, on his mechanics. He is still splitting first-team reps with Gardner Minshew. This could be concerning on the surface but when you think about it, it’s not that surprising. First off, Minshew has more years of NFL experience than Richardson. And secondly, Minshew has more experience in Shane Steichen’s offense as well.
Cameron Wolfe of NFL Media said during his appearance that we are in the middle of June and there is still a lot of practice time left before the opening week of the regular season. Wolfe also states that Richardson has the talent to be one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL. That is some very lofty expectations for the rookie to be up there with the likes of Joe Burrow, Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, and others.
“He’s really just learning the nuances of playing quarterback in his game. He’s got, pure mechanics. You see him make footwork mistakes and in college, his accuracy numbers aren’t great. But if you get him molded in the right scheme like they have in Indy with Shane Steichen you see a certain turnaround like with Jalen Hurts in Philly. I’m not saying he’ll be Jalen Hurts but he has that type of potential. And if he does then Indy will be remembering the day they took Anthony Richardson for decades to come.”
-Cameron Wolfe
Again, that is some lofty expectations for the Colts’ newest quarterback. And again, it’s easy to look at the transformation of Hurts with Steichen and not jump to the conclusion that Richardson will follow the same individual career trajectory. Maybe not leading the Colts to the Super Bowl in the second year of their pairing but just the individual statistical growth and development.
Wolfe also states that he doesn’t believe it will take Richardson as long to develop as maybe some other quarterbacks of Richardson’s caliber.
“When you watch Anthony Richardson’s game he has a lot of the quarterback instincts that you can’t teach. He has the ability to stay in the pocket. He doesn’t run when chaos happens.”
-Cameron Wolfe
This last point is something that needs to be driven home. Like with so many other mobile quarterbacks, when the pocket starts to collapse or get muddy. You see them drop their eyes and look to gain as much yardage rushing as they can. However, with Richardson that doesn’t happen. He keeps his eyes downfield while working to get himself out of danger.
The talent is there for Richardson to be one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL no question. The question is can both he and the Colts coaching staff get the best out of Richardson? If they can, then the road to the AFC South championship is once again going through Indianapolis.