Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts: Anthony Richardson is Perfect for Shane Steichen's Explosive Offensive Style

Starting point is 00:00:00 A lot of the conversation this offseason has been about which quarterback the Colts are going to take with their high pick. But let's talk today about what kind of quarterback Shane Steichen wants for this offense. You are Locked On Colts, your daily Indianapolis Colts podcast. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Thank you all for tuning in and making us your first listen of the day. This is your daily podcast covering your Indianapolis Colts, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. This episode is brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook, official sportsbook partner of the NFL. Make every moment more. Visit FanDuel.com slash Lockdown today to get started. I'm Zach

Starting point is 00:01:00 Hicks of HorseshoeHuddle.com and obviously your favorite co-host here on Locked on Colts. And yeah, today I kind of kicked Jake off. You know, I gave Jake a break because, you know, I kind of have some rambling to go on today. You know, you guys are going to sit here and listen to the rambles of a madman here. And I didn't want to have to put Jake through that. So I'm going to let you guys listen in to this episode. And yeah, my big topic for today, my big exposition that I wanted to make in today's episode is to talk all about Shane Steichen's perfect quarterback. What kind of

Starting point is 00:01:31 quarterback Shane Steichen wants? Because look, all offseason, we have talked about what a chameleon Shane Steichen is, what kind of coach he is. He's a coach who can get the best out of everybody. And we've seen that track record time and time again. We saw it with the Los Angeles Chargers there with Justin Herber, that young quarterback that he's able to get to new heights and win Rookie of the Year in 2020. Obviously, there's a lot of coaching changes that go on. He moves on.

Starting point is 00:01:56 He goes to Philadelphia, becomes the play caller there for Jalen Hurts. And Jalen Hurts goes from, you know, quarterback who didn't look like he really belonged his rookie season or Doug Peterson to a quarterback who looked really promising in 2021 to an MVP candidate in 2022. That's the effect that Shane Steichen has. And, and look, if you're looking at this Colts offense, the Colts, uh, head coaching searches all season as well. Everything is tailored towards this young quarterback. You know, the hiring of Shane Steichen, everything about it is about this next young quarterback so he's going to have a heavy hand in picking who this next quarterback is going to be like i'm not going to say he's going to come in

Starting point is 00:02:34 and be the only decision maker that's picking this next quarterback but you know you hire shane steichen for what he can do with the quarterback position. That is why you hire a guy like Shane Steichen. So he's going to have a heavy hand in picking this next quarterback. And, you know, Shane Steichen, what I love about him is every single interview he's given this offseason, every single thing that he's talked about with the quarterback position, you know, he's given us very coach speak answers. He's given us very roundabout answers as to what he prefers in his quarterbacks. You know, he's a guy who looks for that drive to be great, which again, I agree. given us very roundabout answers as to what he prefers in his quarterbacks.

Starting point is 00:03:09 He's a guy who looks for that drive to be great, which again, I agree. I think every single quarterback needs that if they're going to be a great passer in this league. He says they all come in all shapes and sizes. They need to be accurate and decisive and yada, yada, yada. Yes, we get it. Quarterbacks need to be all these things. And I'm not saying Shane Steichen is lying whatsoever with these things whatsoever. And I do, again, I do agree that that drive to be great, that growth mindset to take yourself from being a raw Josh Allen or Pat Mahomes type guy and getting up to that next

Starting point is 00:03:38 level, that growth mindset to continually get better, that is the biggest thing that you're obviously looking for in these young quarterbacks. But the one thing that Shane Steichen is avoiding talking about, and the biggest thing that I think he's looking for in these young quarterbacks, aside from that drive to be great, is the explosive passing game. Shane Steichen, for everything he is, for again, being this chameleon, this coach who can work with everybody, this coach who can make a pocket passer great, can make a dual threat guy great, can make a mobile guy great. He is a Norv Turner disciple, a Norv Turner disciple who wants to beat you with explosive plays. Explosive plays on the ground, explosive plays in the vertical passing game.

Starting point is 00:04:18 He wants to get that ball vertical. He wants to get that ball down the field in a hurry. He wants to score in one, two, three plays. He does not want to have these long, sustained drives where, you you know you have a distributor just getting the ball out of their hand quick uh and and kind of doing like what the frank reich thing was you know just get that ball out quick keep the chains moving no shane steichen wants to put 50 on you and that that is what he comes from that's the north turner disciple i did catch a podcast interview that shane steichen did with jason kelsey the other day and i'm going to paraphrase a little bit of what he said about the explosive passing game and about his mentor in North Turner. He said, obviously he, as in North Turner is number one in my book. He gave me a chance in 2011 to

Starting point is 00:04:54 get in the league and just, just be around him. Just a phenomenal football mind. The way he created the vertical passing game and taking those big shots to create explosive plays. Cause once you see those explosive plays happen, that is how you score points. You have to create those explosives. Now, how do we create those and how do we scheme up guys to get downfield? Well, when you get those one-on-one matchups like we did this last season, it was nice with Smitty, which is Devonta Smith, AJ, AJ Brown, Dallas, Dallas Goddard, and Quez Watkins.

Starting point is 00:05:21 All those guys are vertical threats, which is awesome. And again, the one thing he's dancing around here, the one thing he's dancing around, which gets me to my overall point where this rambling is going here in this first segment, how do you get teams into those one-on-one matchups? How do you get teams to come out of their too high shell and come down and bring a guy into the box?

Starting point is 00:05:41 You need a mobile passer. And I think Shane Steichen saw that last year. I think he found the recipe for what he is looking for an explosive offensive mind and what what this guy wants his offense to be in the NFL I think he reached it the last two seasons with Jalen Hurts so I do think personally I think this next quarterback for the Indianapolis Colts and the one that Shane Steichen is going to want is a guy who can replicate what Jalen Hurts did. Again, Jalen Hurts, phenomenal guy, and none of these rookies are going to be that good from day one.

Starting point is 00:06:11 But what you want, what he wants to be the most explosive that he can be and fulfill that Norv Turner disciple prophecy that he's setting for himself is you need a mobile quarterback. A mobile quarterback that's going to help you in the run game, who's going to bring defenses out of that too high shell and get them into single high looks. And then a quarterback who can attack the ball down the field, who can get that ball out vertically, nice and accurate and let guys go to work. I mean, just for proper context for what I'm talking about here,

Starting point is 00:06:39 the Philadelphia Eagles, the last two seasons were the number one explosive offense in the entire league. They were a team that had the most explosive runs over the last two years, which is, again, rushes over 10 yards, gaining over 10 yards. I think they were top five in explosive pass plays, which is over 20 plus yards gained on a pass play. And a lot of that had to do with the guy they had at quarterback. You know, they had a lot of single high coverage. They were getting the ball out quick and Jalen Hurts I mean just his ability alone you know Eagles running backs the last two

Starting point is 00:07:07 years averaged 0.3 to 0.4 more yards per carry than any other team in the league because they have that threat of Jalen Hurts you know Jalen Hurts his ability to kill you on potential read option pull outs or any other things he's just going to suck up those linebackers and create more space up front and then also in the scramble you know, Jalen Hurts is a guy who added 29 explosive runs the past two seasons for the Philadelphia Eagles. He's a guy where when everything's breaking down or the scheme is not right, he can still make those explosive plays for you. And I'm not saying that mobile quarterback is the only way to go. But when you're a guy like Shane Steichen and you thrive on explosives and your whole scheme and everything about you is about the explosive play, a quarterback like Jalen Hurts or just a mobile quarterback in general that can create those out of nothing, a quarterback that

Starting point is 00:07:55 can turn a play that's dead to rights in the pocket, a play that's going to be a sack, and they can turn that into an explosive. do you go back from that how do you go from what you saw with Jalen Hurts these last two seasons and go to a pocket passer or go to an underneath passer I I'm going to pause it again I think Shane Stott can work with anybody in this class and I think he can work with any quarterback that the Colts give him whether that be a quarterback who runs a you know a 6'6 40 yard dash and can't move whatsoever I think he can make it work but I think he can make it work. But I think he's going to be, again, like a shark that's kind of smelling blood in the water.

Starting point is 00:08:29 He sees what his offense can be. He sees exactly what he can do with a guy like Jalen Hurts. And I think he's going to want that again going forward. Just for more context on rushing quarterbacks, this was with my article on horseshoehuddle.com yesterday morning. You guys can check that out. But rushing quarterbacks,backs on average have higher depth of target on their passage you know the I think the only three quarterbacks last season averaged over 10 yards of air air yards or air traveled yards on passes last season were all quarterbacks that had over 400 yards rushing they have more percentage of passes that go over 20 yards down the field and more attempts overall

Starting point is 00:09:04 that go 20 yards down I field and more attempts overall that go 20 yards down. I mean, Josh Allen's been number one in that metric the last two seasons. And he's a guy who's run for over 700 yards the last two seasons because he's a guy who can get defenses out of that two high shell, get them down into single high. And then when he sees those one-on-one matchups, he's just going to rip it down the field. And that's what Shane Steichen wants. He wants a quarterback. He wants an offense that can build around explosives. And that's what these mobile quarterbacks can do. So I'm not saying, again, mobile quarterback is the end-all be-all,

Starting point is 00:09:30 but I'm saying if you get Shane Steichen in that room and you're asking him what type of quarterback he wants when he's coming off of what he just did with Jalen Hurts and the Philadelphia Eagles having the number one explosive offense the last two seasons, he's going to say, I want a mobile quarterback who can open up my scheme and get me those explosives. Again, the drive to be great and everything that he is saying this offseason 100% matters and is really, really important as well. But if you're really

Starting point is 00:09:56 looking for schematically what he wants in his next quarterback, I think he wants a mobile guy who can hit the deep ball, a mobile guy who can hit the deep ball. We're going to talk about some quarterbacks in this draft class who kind of fit that bill coming up. But first, if you're looking for a delicious snack but don't want all the sugar and calories, then you need the best tasting protein bar ever. That's built. You've got to try this.

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Starting point is 00:11:11 club, run in and grab a 13 bar box with our hit flavors, brownie, batter, puff, and churro puff. You can thank me later. All right, guys. So let's talk about a couple of these draft quarterbacks because obviously, you know, quarterbacks come in all shapes and sizes, like Shane Steichen is saying. And these quarterbacks in this class are not all cut from the same cloth. They're not the exact same mold of quarterback. You know, you have your pocket passers. You have your dual threat guys. You have your scramblers.

Starting point is 00:11:36 You have your guys who you can use on these designed runs to open up the explosive passing game. So let's look at a couple of these guys and a couple of statistics that kind of go with their game from this past season. So if we're looking at just a designed run game from this past season of this top four quarterbacks in this class, obviously number one in that department is Anthony Richardson from Florida. He had 65 designed runs this past season with Florida. They used him a lot in the ground game. And again, they used him to add stress to those defense that get that single high safety up top. And, and to after that, you know, again, rip it down the field for explosive passing play. So Anthony Richardson, 65 designed runs last

Starting point is 00:12:14 year coming in second is Will Levis with 30 designed runs, which again, it's pretty impressive considering the injury that he had last year. He actually had 63 designed runs back in 2021. So near what Richardson had this past season. So Will Levis, another guy who can also run. CJ Stroud had 24 designed runs, which is actually a lot higher than I thought it was going to be. Because if you're looking at CJ Stroud's game, you kind of think traditional pocket passer,

Starting point is 00:12:39 a guy who, yes, he can move and can be athletic, but he typically has to stay in the pocket. But they did use him a little bit in the read option game and in the quarterback draw game. So up to 24 last year. And then Bryce Young, four designed runs all of last season. Just four designed runs. Actually, for his career, I believe it was only 15 designed runs for his career. So Bryce Young throughout his entire career has fewer designed runs than all the other

Starting point is 00:13:02 quarterbacks had this past season in college football. So again, if you're looking for the mobile aspect and what they do in the designed run game, Bryce Young is probably not your guy that you're looking for to be in that designed run game. CJ Stroud a little less so as well. You're looking at Will Levis. You're looking at Anthony Richardson. Those guys are guys that you can get involved in the designed run game. But that's only one part of the equation here. We're looking at two parts of this equation. We're looking at the designed run game to get teams's only one part of the equation here. We're looking at two parts of this equation. We're looking at the designed run game to get teams into that single high look

Starting point is 00:13:28 and to open up the run game and to make everything more explosive. Then you're looking for a quarterback who can actually hit the deep ball. A quarterback who's going to get the ball down the field, who's going to get the ball where it needs to go, and who's going to be aggressive getting the ball down there.

Starting point is 00:13:40 You know, for me, with these college quarterbacks, I know a lot of it comes down to scheme, but I want to see the willingness to get the ball down the field. If a quarterback is coming into the NFL with only 10 deep passes thrown in their last season, I'm a little concerned about that because I want to see them push the ball down the field. I don't want to just see a check down Charlie. So I want to see some of that arm arrogance a little bit and that willingness to be explosive. So again, let's look at these top four quarterbacks. Let's look at CJ Stroud here. I'm going to put up a graphic for you guys on YouTube. If you guys are listening on audio, I'll read off some of the things here, but

Starting point is 00:14:12 CJ Stroud last year did a lot of his damage in that short to intermediate range, but also deep down the field, 15.6% of his overall attempts went past 20 air yards. He had 31 completions on 61 attempts for a 50.8 completion percentage, 1,082 yards passing, 12 touchdowns, 12 interceptions, a 94.2 PFF grade on these deep balls, 25 big time throws, which is 37.3% of his overall throws. He had six turnover worthy plays, which, you know, down the field, there's going to be a couple down there. So yeah, pretty, pretty good overall. I mean, this is a guy who attacks the ball, attacks down the field really well. Again, that Ohio State scheme, you're going to be

Starting point is 00:14:53 protected quite a bit so you can take more of those downfield shots. But C. Joe Stroud at least had the arm arrogance and the willingness to attack the ball down the field a little bit with 15.6% of his overall attempts going down the field. So again, that's a good check right there, especially when you factor in his ability to run and his ability to get out of the pocket. So I like that there with CJ Stroud going to Bryce Young a little bit lower. Bryce Young was more in that short in the intermediate game. Only 12.6% of his passes went deep 20 yards down the field. He completed 21 of 48 attempts for a 43.8 completion percentage for only 749 yards six touchdowns and one interception he had a 95 pff grade on these throws 20 big time throws 37.7 big time throw percentage uh two turnover worthy plays and

Starting point is 00:15:40 and again you can kind of see some other stats there if you guys are on youtube but yeah Bryce Young again most of his if you actually look at his time to throw most of his deep ball shots came on just broken scramble drills which again this is a good element to this because those are still explosive plays we're looking at the explosives here so whether that's a scheme deep shot whether that's a broken play deep shot they're all the same to me yards are yards and that's what we're looking for but Bryce Young not, not as aggressive as a CJ Stroud. He's not going to continually push the ball down the field. And overall, his accuracy is fine. Like 43%, that's fine on these deep balls. And again, three drops. So 12% of them were dropped last year as well. You put that into the factor and you're looking at a 50% completion percentage. So it could have gone some other ways. I don't

Starting point is 00:16:23 think he's a bad deep ball passer, but he's not as aggressive as some other guys in this class. So looking at our next one here, and we got Anthony Richardson, and this one is a bit of a wild ride here. So Anthony Richardson, nearly 20% of his overall attempts were past 20 yards last year. He had 26 completions on 64 attempts for a 40 completion percentage for a thousand yards nine touchdowns and two picks 17 big time throws 25 big time throw percentage only one turnover worthy play despite the hefty amount of uh attempts there which is which pretty impressive to me uh he had one drop down the field as well so his adjusted completion percentage is still only like 42 but look you see that arm arrogance. You see the willingness to attack down the field.

Starting point is 00:17:06 And the craziest thing with Anthony Richardson compared to these other quarterbacks is his highest passer rating as a quarterback last year came on these deep throws, 114.6. Bryce Young's, his was in the intermediate area. And CJ Stroud's, his was in the short area. So Richardson is at his best attacking down the field again when he gets teams out of that that two high shell gets into that single high because of his designed run ability he's going to attack down the field and then we look at Will Levis last year again Will Levis just to preface a little bit of this he was injured last year and he didn't really have the best talent around him I'm not trying trying to give complete excuses here, but it is something that did happen. I do want to address it a little bit,

Starting point is 00:17:48 but only 13.6% of his attempts went down the field. 39 overall attempts, only completed 16 of them for 41% completion percentage, 541 yards, one touchdown and two picks. Seven big time throws, which is good for 15% of his overall throws. Four turnover-worthy plays, which is not amazing there. Nearly 10% of his throws down the field were turnover-worthy plays. His adjusted completion percentage was up to almost 50%, so around what Richardson's and Bryce Young's was. But yeah, Will Levis, it was actually his worst area of the field. If you look at passer rating and a couple other advanced stats there, he struggled to push the ball down the field this past season. If you look at 2021, it's a little bit better.

Starting point is 00:18:29 It's still six touchdowns and six interceptions. But, you know, it's not as bad as what these numbers look. But, you know, again, if you're looking for certain things like I was for this kind of argument here, if you're looking for designed runs, mobility, ability to create with your legs to open up the run game and the deep passing game and then how they perform in that deep passing game you know Anthony Richardson's a guy who checks both those boxes you know he's a guy who does both of those things really well who can attack down the field consistently and create the big plays and he's actually at his best attacking down the field and then in the run game obviously you know he's a threat in that area there he's the rushing quarterback in this class, the best athlete we've seen at the quarterback position ever. But again, if you're looking at some of these other guys, you know, Will Levis yet again,

Starting point is 00:19:12 93 design runs the past two seasons, a guy who can beat you with his legs. Yes, he needs to get better down the field. But if you give him a play caller like Shane Steichen, he can maybe open up some more things down the field for him to be more consistent. And then CJ Stroud, again, the best deep passer in this class on top of having kind of underrated mobility with those 24 design runs this past season as well. So I think any of those three guys fit pretty well. And I can even make an argument for Bryce Young and in a completely different vein. But for the sake of this argument, and kind of my overall point that I'm trying to get to with this entire podcast, this entire show is Shane Steichen wants to be explosive. He wants everything to create the big play.

Starting point is 00:19:53 Again, at the very top of the show, I said that he wants to score one or two or three plays. He doesn't want to score in 10 to 15 play drives, you know, score quickly, put the defense on their heels, put them tired, put them second guessing themselves and just keep pounding the rock and keep, uh, and keep eating that way. That's what Shane Steichen wants. And I think there are quarterbacks in this class. There's young quarterbacks in this class. You fit that mold really well. Again, personally, I think it's Anthony Richardson who really fits it, but you can make the argument

Starting point is 00:20:21 for CJ Stroud. You can make the argument for Will Levis that these are guys who could open up that pass game and create those explosives that Shane Steichen really wants. So we're going to close up today's show in just a second, guys. I'm going to get around to it just a second and closing it out. But yeah, I really, again, I really think that there are young quarterbacks in this class that Shane Steichen is going to be pounding the table for. But for me personally, and I think for Shane Steichen as well, Anthony Richardson seems like that guy. All right, so that's it for today, guys. Again, this was kind of a shorter episode, just me going on my little rant about what Shane Steichen wants in his quarterback and what this draft class can give him at that position.

Starting point is 00:20:59 But yeah, you know, it's an interesting class. Again, you can make the argument for a lot of these guys. But if you're looking for ways to make the Colts offense explosive, you need a mobile passer. You need a guy who can hit those deep balls, who has that arm arrogance to go down the field, but also can get teams into favorable looks with their running ability and with their ability to help the run game. And to me personally, I think there's only one quarterback in this class that kind of

Starting point is 00:21:23 does both of those things. But I'll let you guys hash it out in the comments section. I know it's going to be a very lively and fun conversation down there in the comments. Make sure you guys are following us on social medias at LockedOnColts, at JakeArthurNFL, and at ZachHicks2 on Twitter. Also subscribe to LockedOnColts podcast on YouTube, wherever you listen to your podcasts. We love your ratings and reviews, so please throw them down there for sure. And thank you for making LockedOn, Colts, your first listen every day. Now make your second listen, Locked On NFL Scouting with the Draft Dudes.

Starting point is 00:21:52 From free agency to the draft to salary cap management and more, join NFL experts Kyle Kravitz and Joe Marino as they take you through what it's like to build a successful NFL franchise every Monday through Friday. Find Locked On NFL Scouting with the Draft Dudes wherever you get your podcasts and on YouTube. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. We'll see you guys tomorrow with a really fun guest, with a really fun guest tomorrow.

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Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts: Anthony Richardson is Perfect for Shane Steichen's Explosive Offensive Style

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