Anthony Richardson’s elusiveness is a luxury the Colts need while he develops as a passer

The second-year quarterback has struggled through the air to kick off his sophomore campaign, but his legs are keeping him from drowning.

Anthony Richardson is seemingly struggling as a passer amidst his return from a season-ending injury that kept him out of the majority of his rookie year. His durability has once again come into question after an oblique injury that popped up in the Colts’ win over the Pittsburgh Steelers kept him out of the team’s next two games.

Richardson’s ability as a rusher is one of if not the most impressive traits he possesses. As Colts’ HC Shane Steichen said back in Training Camp when it comes to limiting Richardson as a rusher in an attempt to alleviate hits and, therefore, preserve the young quarterback’s health, he posed the question, “Are you going to limit Steph Curry from shooting 3s?”

Lo and behold, Coach Steichen threw out the most designed runs for Anthony Richardson in his return to action that he’s seen to date. Not only that, Richardson had a career-high rush attempts in his return from his oblique injury (13 excluding kneels) and would end up as the team’s leading rusher on the day.

Richardson’s career-high rushing attempts included career-highs in both scrambles and designed rushes in one game. He scrambled five times in the Colts’ win over Miami, which was one shy of his season total through 3.5 games up to that point.

His rushing ability has not only kept him from drowning in his early-season passing woes but has provided a boost in the passing game as well. Coach Steichen and company are slowly but surely allowing Richardson to eat with legs, and it’s paying dividends overall.

How Richardson’s Legs Are Keeping Him From Drowning As A Passer

Richardson has struggled to find a groove early in the air in all but one game this season. The Colts have been trailing by 2+ scores heading into the 4th quarter in the majority of his starts, but his late-game heroics have allowed for comebacks regardless of whether they were able to finish the job. This is promising for many reasons, but mostly to show that he’s a gamer who won’t go down without a fight. You want to see Richardson start strong like he did against the Steelers in Week 4, but of course, the lone time we’ve seen that this season, he left the game early with an injury.

Anthony Richardson’s rushing ability is not only a positive factor for Indy’s offense when it comes to designed runs or scrambling to save a play on any given dropback, but his sheer presence in the backfield is putting defenders in a bind in run fits. This prioritization of Richardson’s threat on the ground will inevitably be a trickier balance to find for opposing defenses once star RB Jonathan Taylor comes back into the fray.

Accuracy, which includes many factors, has been at the forefront of his struggles thus far, but what Richardson has remained strong at is his overall presence and subsequent sack avoidance when operating the pocket. Against the Dolphins in his first game back, Richardson showcased a clinic on how to avoid pressure and disaster altogether.

12 of the 18 pressures against Richardson were quick pressures (under 2.5 seconds), resulting in the highest quick pressure rate faced by a QB this season (40.0%). Richardson’s ability to evade sacks for a loss and pressure overall by turning a seemingly dead play into a net positive is one of the biggest reasons he was so highly coveted coming out of the draft.

Richardson is third among qualifying quarterbacks in pressure-to-sack rate (10.8%) per Pro Football Focus. The ability to not only avoid sacks but oftentimes turn them into positive gains is something few quarterbacks in the league can do, and it has allowed Richardson to just keep swimming as he traverses the treacherous waters otherwise known as early quarterback development in the NFL.

A Glimpse At What Might Just Keep Richardson Afloat Amidst Development

As mentioned, Richardson has struggled early in games to kick off his professional career, particularly as a passer. As we saw against the Dolphins, Richardson mightily struggled early before finding it with time dwindling in the 3rd quarter.

What seemingly kickstarted Richardson’s late-game heroics was a slew of designed runs that supplemented his passing performance altogether. Prior to his 4th quarter turnaround, one which technically began in the waning moments of the 3rd quarter, Richardson only saw two designed run calls. Once his best stretch as a passer began, five designed runs went his way in the 4th quarter alone.

When asked whether or not success as a rusher, in turn, helps calm him down as a passer and not be as erratic, Anthony Richardson replied, “I don’t think it helps me calm down, I just think it opens up the routes more. I feel like it opens up the offense a little bit more for us because the defense has to play both sides of the ball.”

Regardless of whether or not this gives him confidence as a passer, this potential coincidence saw Richardson have his best stretch as a passer on the day as he went 5 for 6 and 65 passing yards to close out the game. His previously mentioned five designed rushes in the 4th quarter only netted 10 yards, but it was Trey Sermon who benefitted from Richardson finding his groove as his five 4th quarter rushes for 31 yards (6.2 ypc) played a big part in icing the game down the stretch.

Moving Forward

In the meantime, while Richardson works through his kinks as a passer, Steichen and company should look to utilize his otherworldly talents on the ground more often. I realize I’m suggesting this while also telling you that Richardson is fresh off of putting up career-high carries, but the performance in question shows how much higher his week-to-week floor can be if his unprecedented rushing ability is given a bigger platform. It, at the very least, raises the floor enough to continue starting Richardson with no second thought.

While Richardson’s injury history is admittedly nothing to scoff at, playing scared (in a playcaller’s sense) in an attempt to keep him healthy will do nothing but provide fuel to his doubters’ fire. Richardson, while ironically sporting a herculean build, may end up as being the injury-prone player that some have already stamped him as, but he very well could be built for the NFL, it’s just that he’s still 22 years old and has learning to do when it comes to protecting himself.

Richardson’s inherent ability to either take off for a 50+ yard gain on the ground at any given time or evade several sacks that turn a disaster into memory is just the surface of why an entire franchise is betting on him. Couple that with Richardson quickly showcasing he is a natural gunslinger, and it should be easy to see why this experience offers such boom-or-bust potential.

One thing should not be argued at this point, however, and that’s whether or not Richardson should be benched if he were to play poorly. We’ll never truly know if Anthony Richardson will become the best version of himself if he’s not given a fair shake, and so far, he’s shown no reason to get off the train early.