Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts: Anthony Richardson is the PERFECT Quarterback for Shane Steichen

Episode Date: May 3, 2023

Anthony Richardson is, without a doubt, the perfect quarterback for Indianapolis Colts head coach Shane Steichen. With Steichen as the play-caller, it is easy to see how Richardson can have a Jalen Hurts-level impact in Indy. Fran Duffy of Eagles.com joins to discuss.Find and follow Locked On Colts on your favorite podcast platforms:🎧 https://link.chtbl.com/LOColts?sid=YouTube📺YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLdpxJspi1hMh5HL7ExpWOQLocked On NFL League-Wide: Every Team, Fantasy, Draft & More🎧 https://linktr.ee/LockedOnNFLFollow Jake and Zach's written work on HorseshoeHuddle.com, and give them a follow on Twitter @JakeArthurNFL, @ZachHicks2, @LockedOnColts, and @ColtsOnFN!Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKEDON15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.FanDuelMake Every Moment More. Don’t miss the chance to get your No Sweat First Bet up to ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS in Bonus Bets when you go FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The legendary Fran Duffy stops by to give his opinion on Anthony Richardson and Shane Steichen. Let's get to it, guys. You are Locked On Colts, your daily Indianapolis Colts podcast. Part of the Locked On Podcast your first listen of the day. This is your daily podcast covering your Indianapolis Colts, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. I'm Zach Hicks. Again, sans Jake Arthur.

He is still dealing with some family stuff there. But I'm Zach Hicks. You guys know and love me from obviously LockedOnColts and TheHorseshoeHuddle.com. I'm your notorious film guy that you all love and sometimes hate, but mostly love there on HorseshoeHuddle.com. Our special guest today is Fran Duffy of PhiladelphiaEagles.com fame. Fran does phenomenal work with Eagle Eye in the Sky podcast.

And you can also find his draft content with the Journey to the Draft show as well. I highly, highly recommend giving both of those a listen. On today's episode, Fran and I are going to dive into the game of Anthony Richardson and discuss how his fit with Shane Steichen is the absolute dream scenario. But first, let's go back in time a little bit, Fran. We're going to talk about the Philadelphia Eagles go back to 2021 when, you know, that Eagles team, they brought in a new head coach, offensive coordinator combination in Nick Sirianni and Shane Steichen. Now they had a tough task in front of them. They had to work with a young quarterback

who coming off of a limited rookie season, you know, he only completed 52% of his passes that year. What did Steichen and Sirianni kind of do in that 2021 season to bring Jalen Hurts up from, again, we're not talking about the past year where he was a fringe MVP candidate. We're talking about 2021 where he goes from, we don't really know what we have to, okay, here's a guy that we can work with here in 2021. Yeah, I think the big thing, first of all, you give a ton of credit to Jalen for continuing to show like that work ethic

to really like improve and hone in his craft in certain areas, like having an understanding of, hey, these are my weaknesses. This is where I need to improve. Right. But then you also need to look at the other side of that with the coaching staff and say, okay, how do we mitigate his weaknesses and how do we lean into his strengths? And so, you know, I thought the first few games in 2021, that first year, it was a little bit of a slow burn, right?

But there was probably like week four, week five, week six of that season, you really kind of started to see that, all right, we're going to lean into the run game. And certainly Jalen is going to be a big part of that. And that really became the identity of that offense. And remember, you had a couple of backs in that backfield. It was a big part of what the Eagles were doing. It was Devontae Smith's rookie season.

Dallas Goddard, he hadn't quite come into his own yet because you have to remember that Zach Ertz was still on that team at that time. He was traded at the trade deadline, right? So that full multitude of past game He was traded at the trade deadline. So that full multitude of past game weapons had not been fully established yet. And everybody was kind of coming into their own from an offensive terminology standpoint. So as they found their way, that offense really kind of hit their stride. And certainly the run game was the huge, huge element of that offense. Yeah, yeah, for sure. And you mentioned that run game. The Eagles

in 2021 had a historic run game. That year was one of the best run games in all of football, the most explosive run game in the league. Just how important was having a quarterback like Jalen Hurts in that run game? And also, did kind of leaning on that run game with him kind of help his overall accuracy and his overall rhythm in the passing game? You know, I'm a big believer. I've talked about this before on some other different podcasts is I'm a big

believer in creating confidence for the quarterback, right. And creating easy throws to get them into a rhythm because not only does that build confidence in the quarterback, but it also builds the team's confidence in the quarterback, right? Because you start seeing completion after completion, after completion, it's like your, your three pointer that your three point shooter that starts to run dry a little bit like I like hit a couple of layups and a couple of free throws. And then they kind of get into a rhythm. To me, I think that when you look at the run game, a big part of that was certainly Jalen. Right. But I think when you start digging into like the schematics of it and they are one of the more multiple run teams in football.

And it was funny. I think everybody thinks of like the Eagles and it's like And they are one of the more multiple run teams in football. And it was funny. I think everybody thinks of like the Eagles and it's like inside zone, inside zone, inside zone, because from a pure number standpoint over the last couple of years, they've led the lead, been one of the leaders in the league in terms of volume of inside zone. But when you watch that, when you watch the team go, there is such a wide variety of inside and outside zones, mid zone runs.

Then you get all the different gap scheme runs. So you have power and counter and trap and wham and all the, you know, the duo you'll see all the different gap schemes as well. But then when you factor in, oh yeah, the quarterback run element of it. So, you know, let's, let's just say counter, for example, right? So a typical counter play, you're going to have a guard pulling from the backside and typically a tight end coming from the back side so you're gonna have like a puller and a wrapper right and they're gonna be two lead blocks into the hole for the

running back well uh the eagles you know in 2021 and 2022 as well last season uh you have uh jalen hertz who's gonna turn around and hand the ball off to mile sanders uh and he's gonna run counter all right well then you also have QB counter, right? So that's going to be where Jalen Hurts is the ball carrier. He's in the shotgun and he's going to keep the ball on QB counter. And you still have the tight end. You still have the pulling, you still have the pulling guard. All right. So now I have QB counter. Then you've got QB counter read where, okay, now there's the read element of it, where he's going to read the front side defensive end.

You're not even blocking that guy. You still have tight end pulling. You still have the guard pulling and the tight end inserting, right? And you've got the ability to throw off of that because you have the RPOs on the front side of it, right? So there's all these different layers. Just off one play, you've got counter. Then you've got the quarterback run element.

You've got the read element where it can go to the back or to the quarterback. And then you've got the ability to throw off of that. Right. So, uh, and that was the case with power inside zone, outside zone, split zone. Like it goes down the list of all the different, uh, run plays that you can have. And you say, okay, uh, that's how multiple that's how wide reaching this run game was. Not every team in the NFL operates that way. Right. And so you want, I'm wondering if that's how wide reaching this run game was. Not every team in the NFL operates that way, right? And so I'm wondering if that's something that Shane Steichen will bring with him to Indianapolis. Obviously, he's not bringing Jeff Stoutland, the Eagles run game coordinator, with him, but certainly can have influence over, hey, this is what worked for us in Philadelphia.

Let's try and keep that multiplicity going. But I think when you look at that run game, yeah, certainly Jalen is a big part of that, but I think the multiplicity going. But I think when you look at that run game overlooks, yeah, certainly Jalen is a big part of that. But I think the multiplicity of it is one of the things that makes it special. Yeah, yeah, for sure. And then getting to that passing game off of that run game. Again, you're running the ball so well. I know the analytics don't back this up, but that's where you can build play action. You can build the deep shot because you're getting that safety down in the box and you're able to kind of rip it deep. And I'm actually really curious about this real quick is Shane Steichen, Nick Sirianni, they've always worked together, but they've kind of have differing philosophies when it comes to throwing the football, you know, Shane or Shane

Steichen is more of that air choreo air it out. I want to attack deep or Nick Sirianni is more of that whiz and hunt run after catch, you know, element there. How did the Eagles kind of mesh that together in 2021 when both those guys had moments where they were calling plays well uh you know jalen hurts was very aggressive downhill they did take a lot of aggressive shots in 2021 um the success rate was not as high and that's something that you know jalen would you know we'll say yes i i worked on that uh over the course of that 21 to 22 uh season uh and then also adding aj brown uh also helped in that too aj brown became um he went from like that yards after catch monster in tennessee where

everything was like the little glance routes over the middle of the field and those rpo slants and you're like okay that's kind of what he is that you envision that's how he's going to plug into this offense and then all of a sudden he was like the best deep ball receiver in football a year ago right and so um i think when you look at it uh i think there will be a little bit there's going to be elements of all of it uh in this offense when you look at indianapolis and chainstaking i think they're going to try and hit you uh in a number of different ways they certainly have the tools uh they certainly have the players to be able to say okay this is what we want to be able to do you have michael pitman you have some of the young pieces they've added you have jonathan taylor obviously uh the bell

cow back uh when you factor in richards Richardson uh all the the the possibilities are endless from that standpoint yeah yeah for sure so coming up guys we're going to talk about Anthony Richardson in general Fran kind of did a great job of leading us into that next segment you guys can tell he is podcast uh guy 101 with all that stuff he knows the podcast rhythm and all that so coming up we are going to talk about Anthony Richardson in general and again just how exciting his fit is in Shane Steichen's offense but first make a fast break to FanDuel during the NBA playoffs because right now new customers can get a no sweat first bet up to $1,000 that's $1,000 back in bonus bets if your first bet doesn't win guys I'm watching this nba playoffs and i think an

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But getting back to this episode with Fran Duffy here, we're talking to Anthony Richardson. Now, Fran is not only a Philadelphia Eagles guy, he is a draft guy. So Anthony Richardson, you know, you've been covering the draft for a long time, Fran. This is the weirdest profile we've ever seen from a quarterback. Like, yes, I know the traits wise, he does kind of compare to some other quarterbacks we've seen go super high, but the inexperience, the completion percentage, all the things that scare everybody.

Yet most analysts had him as a top 10 player or a top five player. Like what did you see in Anthony Richardson that made you kind of feel comfortable with being like, okay, yeah, top. Yeah. First round guy for sure. I mean, it's the the talent it's the upside and it was a a really fun kind of roller coaster uh to to follow it over the course of the college football season um you know i became aware of anthony richardson during his red shirt freshman year so during that 2021 season that we were just talking about right um so it was a uh he was a backup quarterback and kind of a change of pace guy they brought him in in certain situations.

I'm trying to remember exactly how many snaps. He played 195 snaps back in that redshirt freshman year. And it wasn't just like, oh, yeah, here's one start or a couple starts. It was – I think he had one start on the season. Yeah, he started one game that year. And then he participated in seven other games. So I remember he had like a long run against LSU. It was like 70, 80 yards. And you're like, holy – I think he like pulled up with a hamstring participated in seven other games so uh there were i remember he had like a long run against lsu it

was like 70 80 yards and you're like holy so he pulled i think he like pulled up uh with a hamstring at the end of it but you just saw like the explosiveness and the speed and the suddenness you're like man like this guy is impressive right and he's wait a minute how big is he he's six four 240 pounds like holy smokes you just don't see guys with that skill set, that big, you know, operating, especially like running away from legitimate SEC defenses. Right. So that was really when he first kind of popped on the radar. And there were some analysts out there that that were really, really high on him going into the year. And I remember just kind of studying him for the first time. Again, I typically if I'm doing my first study, if I'm like diving into a quarterback for the first time, you know, I'll try and watch, you know, four or five, six games, four or five, six starts, right?

Well, that wasn't a possibility for me in this game or in this study, right? So I ended up just watching literally all of his throws and all of his runs. Like I was like, all right, I'm just going to, I'm going to take out all of his handoffs. And I'm just going to let me look at all of his throws and all of his runs. I did that last July and you can't come out of that thinking like, okay, this guy doesn't have starting potential. Like this guy,

absolutely. If he puts it together, this guy is going to be a legitimate starter in the NFL and potentially one of the best in his position. But there were areas where you're like, yeah, like you just have to kind of have to project what is he going to look like? And I love summer scouting.

It's one of my favorite stages of the draft process. And so I'm excited for us to be entering that season for it now, getting ready for next spring. Because that's when you get your first feel on guys. And you're always like optimistic because you still have another year of projection and potential improvement. And especially with Anthony Richardson, him never being a starter. You're like, man, like, all right,

what can this guy look like in October, in November, in December? Because that was a big thing for me, watching C.J. Stroud in his first year as a starter in that same 2021 season. Early on, he had that loss against Oregon at home. There were some other games where he just didn't look all that great. And then he just got better and better and better. And even though they lost against Michigan, I thought he played pretty well. They go to the Rose Bowl.

They end up winning that shootout with Utah, and they're in the Rose Bowl. And you're like, man, all right, if Richardson could do the same thing this year, he's going to be the number one pick or the number two pick. There's no question about it. It didn't happen, right? He came out, and it was actually the opposite, where he came out. They beat Utah in week one. And I remember I was down the shore.

I was down the Jersey Shore that opening weekend in college football. And we got back, you know, my son's exhausted from, you know, from like playing on the boardwalk and going on rides and stuff. We go, we get him to bed. I sit down and I watch this game and I was, I was like, Oh man. All right. So this is where we're starting with Anthony Richardson this year. Like, where are we going? And every mock draft after that had him as the number one pick uh in you know in that mock draft that following week now things tempered off as we know right it was not the it was not all sunshine and rainbows for anthony richardson last year but you still saw the outstanding athleticism the ridiculous arm talent they are some of the most absurd throws uh in in uh college

football and in the last three four five years i, this is a guy that can make any throw you need. Uh, some of the plays, I mean, the one where, uh, you know, he pirouettes in the red zone and, uh, you know, relands his resets his platform and finds an open receiver, uh, in the corner for a touchdown. If you just have these kinds of plays, you're like, all right, like this guy can create outside of structure as well as anybody. Can he play within structure? And again, then you go back to watching on third down. You're like, man, this guy can operate from an NFL scheme. And if the situation wasn't great, you were still working in a new offense for the first time.

The terminology wasn't all there. But man, if this guy could just put it all together, it's all going to be there. And it ended up being the case, right? It ended up being the case where the talent won out. He ends up going fourth overall to the Colts. And, you know, it's a huge swing and it's not without risk. But I can certainly appreciate the attempt here from Chris Ballard and the Colts.

Right, right. Yeah. And I think this is a guy, again, where if you're just looking at those flashes and you're projecting, again, Chris Ballard's a traits guy. He's a traits guy. And I'm sure we'll talk about that at some other point. And when I'm on your show next week, we'll definitely talk about again, Chris Ballard's a traits guy. He's a traits guy. And I'm sure we'll talk about that some other point. And when I'm on your show next week, we'll definitely talk about that with Chris Ballard, but Chris Ballard's a traits guy. And why not a quarterback? Why not a quarterback? We're seeing it kind of hit at this crazy rate

lately with guys like Lamar Jackson, Kyler Murray, Josh Allen, you know, these high traits quarterbacks are kind of hitting in the NFL. But to kind of bring the conversation back to what we talked about in that first segment, you know, we talked about Jalen Hurts and we talked about Shane Steichen, obviously. Anthony Richardson, how do you think he kind of compares as a player to a guy like Jalen Hurts? It's a good question. I think that from a pure like arm talent standpoint, I would say that that is a separator. He's probably more of like an explosive, like sudden athlete. Like he's just got a little bit more twitch than Jalen does.

A lot of Jalen's runs, he makes some ridiculous runs. But, you know, he wins kind of like in that Cam Newton area of like – and Josh Allen as well where it's like size, power, like brute force. And Richardson, he has that, but he also has like the four, four, low four, four speed. Right. And that's something that, uh, can be that X factor for him. And that's what creates like the, um, you know, instead of it being a 12 yard scramble, it turns into like a 35 yard touchdown like that. I think that's where, uh, that's the difference from that standpoint. Now, um, you know, Jalen played a lot more football. He had just a lot, a lot more pelts on the wall from a pure passing

standpoint. Um, And it wasn't always pretty for him in college, as has been well documented. But I think in terms of just what he had done at the college level, Jalen Hurts won a Heisman. Jalen Hurts led teams to national titles. And Florida went what? They went six and six last year with Anthony Richardson as a starter. He had 17 touchdowns and nine picks, 53% completion. Florida was middle of the pack in the SEC. So in terms of just what he had done over the course of his college career, that pedigree, that's a big difference, I think,

in terms of Richardson and Hurts coming out. Yeah, for sure. I think one thing that stood out to me with those two players, though, is just – and this is what I love to look at with these big traits guys is how poised are they you know how poised are there Anthony Richland has some issues where the pressure is closing in he loses that base and he's a little bit inaccurate but when you're looking at pocket movement when you're looking at what they do on third downs like you mentioned with Anthony Rich at the top of this segment like I see those two players as being in a similar mold where it's like, they're not phased by this stuff.

You know, they're not phased by that. And was that a huge impact early on with Jalen hurts too, is just, yes, the inaccuracies were there and yes, there were some issues, but like,

this is a guy where if you needed a throw to happen, he, he could go out there and make it. Yeah, no doubt. I mean, and that's the, the poison toughness.

That was never a, a question when it came to Jalen hurts. And it was more just like, you know, the pocket awareness, but not like a poison toughness and competitiveness aspect. Right. So, you know, one stat that I love to look at over the last couple of years, just kind of tracking different PFF metrics, you know, they've got a metric that's pressure to sack percentage.

So basically like what percentage of the time a quarterback gets pressured, do they get sacked? And if you look back to last year, a lot of those quarterbacks were like at the bottom of that number, right? I mean, you know, Sam Howell was the worst of any quarterback they charged.

He was 30, 31.8% of the, his pressures turned into sacks. But you know, you look at like Malik Willis, he was up there. Desmond Ritter, he was up there. Going back to this year at like malik willis he was up there uh desmond ritter he was up there um and going back to this year like will levis he was up there there's a

bunch of guys where it's like man like um you know that that's a troubling stat right and then you look at anthony richardson he had one of the best numbers uh since they've been charting that uh patrick mahomes was 10.2 right that was coming into this year. That was the fourth best of all quarterbacks drafted in the last decade since PFF has been charting this stuff, right? So he was just about 10%. Richardson was 9.9. He was right there. And so again, when you talk about like this, like that playmaking dimension, that ability to escape trouble, it's not just with legs, that's factoring in arms, your arm as well, and your mind as well is like, hey, you know, it's not just the ability to when you're pressured run away,

but when you're pressured avoid and make a play with your arm. And so I think that that's something that to me really kind of speaks to Anthony Richardson and what he could be. It's like, yeah, this is a guy that knows how to win both with his legs and with his arm. Now it's just about kind of like putting it all together, taking some of the easy layups that he, that he's missed,

taking some of those out, you know, and just finding a way of finding what he does best. And I feel like that's something that Shane Steichen and his staff will look to do early. Yeah, absolutely. So guys coming up,

we're going to bring all this conversation together, everything about Anthony Richardson, everything about Shane Steichen and Jalen Hurts. We're going to bring it all together and talk about how Shane Steichen can build this offense around Anthony Richardson's talents. We're going to talk about that here in just a second. All right, guys, so we're back. We're talking Anthony Richardson. We're talking Shane Steichen.

And for me personally, again, just watching Shane Steichen's offense in Philly the last couple seasons, watching all the empty personnel, watching the three-by- one sets, watching the bunch sets and just kind of spreading defenses as wide as possible to allow that physical freak athlete that is Jalen Hurts to just torment them with his ability to run

and pass over the middle and identify things quick. Do you think that is a feasible route to go with Anthony Richardson as well? It could be. And I think ultimately it, it comes down to Anthony Richardson's comfort level with all of this stuff, right? Is, um, you know, what does he like to do? Cause I think that, uh, and you know, I don't know this

obviously. And I think when you look at it from Shane Steichen's approach, it's going to be like, look, I'm not going to put a square peg in a round hole. If you go into empty, there are some quarterbacks that don't like going into empty. If you don't like going into empty, then I'm not going to force that on you. If you like the idea of going into empty and spreading it. And there are a lot of coaches that feel that that's a really good thing for a young quarterback as well. Because you know, what you say with empty is that that is like truth serum for defense. You can't disguise if you're, I mean, you can, you can try, but it's very hard to disguise what you're doing from a coverage standpoint, from a pressure standpoint, when you're going into empty.

Because you think empty, ball's likely to come out fast because it's only a five-man protection. So if there's pressure, there's no extra guys in there to help. So the offense is planning on getting the ball out fast. So the defense, they've got to respond in kind. You're only going to have one or two empty checks. And typically, there's like, all right, we're either going to play man or it's some kind of zone coverage. And so right away, you're giving the quarterback information before the snap that can help the young quarterback. Right. And so I think when you're trying to figure out, you know, because there's lots of

different ways you can do it to give the quarterback information, pre-snap motion shifts, shifts and different, there's all different kinds of tools in a coach's toolbox to be able to try and get give your quarterback uh that kind of intel um but it's about what makes anthony richardson tick what does he like to use how much of a lift from a protection standpoint can the offensive line handle which you would imagine uh they will be able to handle most of that um but i think that that's going to be important to watch here in the the first few months yeah yeah for sure and actually that brings my next question here is you mentioned pre snap motion. I've noticed with Shane Steichen in his career, he's typically not leaned on pre snap motion, you know, in Philadelphia, they were near the bottom in the NFL the last couple seasons. And then if you look at Anthony

Richardson in college, that was almost every single snap was pre snap motion. You know, I don't know if that was a schematic thing from the offensive coordinator, or if that was, that was his preference. However, that was just from your knowledge of working with Shane Steichen, though, and just knowing Shane Steichen as a coach and stuff like that. Is that something that he would fully embrace if that's something Anthony Richardson is more comfortable with? I'm sure that, you know, it might not be the case when he's a rookie. You know, it might be when he's kind of established himself a little bit more but if anthony richardson says like hey like i really want to do this i really feel strongly about it um then i'm sure that shane steichen would be open to it uh i think the big

thing and you know there's lots of you know like uh john or uh peyton manning uh aaron rogers like famously like hate motion like i don't like using pre-snap motion when um when green bay first uh welcomed in leflore to be their head coach uh there was a lot of butting heads with he and rogers about using pre-snap motion it wasn't until that mvp or in year two where he was like all right like i get what you're i get where you're coming from with this i get why it can be a benefit still don't love it but that's why you're right so like some coaches and players love it offensive linemen typically don't like it uh because again you're changing not only are you changing the picture for the defense,

but when the defense moves, well, now things change. And now, like everything, all the protection work I did before the snap, that's all out the window because you guys moved the X receiver or you guys moved the slot receiver or you moved the tight end from left to right. And now the front changed, and we have to communicate this on the fly now. So I think that there's pluses and minuses to everything, and now it's just a matter of you know understanding again what works for anthony richardson uh what works for the guys that he's in the huddle with and how do you uh you know best put your your team

in position to keep drives going and put points on the board yeah yeah and one more thing i want to touch on with you and this is actually kind of aside from anthony richardson and just talking about weapons there is when i look at phil Philadelphia the last two seasons their quick win wide receiver I mean again Anthony era AJ Brown this past season was AJ Brown so he could win in a multitude of ways but their quick win wide receiver you know the backside the three by ones the innermost on on empty sets or whatever like the weak side three or the strong side two was Devonta Smith. Like when you needed someone to win a route, they were going to Devonta Smith. And now the Colts, you know,

they're drafting a guy in Josh Downs who is kind of a similar type of player in terms of just that, that quick win ability. How important was it for Jalen Hurts development to have a Devonta Smith who, again, if you're going into empty, if you're going to three by ones, you have one receiver who's going to be open. Yeah, it's certainly big. And the thing about the Eagles, for your listeners that play fantasy football, this is a great thing about the Eagles offense is that the target tree was pretty limited, right? It was A.J. Brown, it was Devontae Smith, it was Dallas Goddard, and those guys got the lion's share of all of the touches.

They got the lion's share of all the targets. There was not like a fourth, fifth, sixth option that was like consistently a factor on a week-to-week basis. Like Quez Watkins had some plays here and there. You saw like Zach Paschal dive in here and there. Like you had some guys that like played a part and certainly were important to the offense. But in terms of like having that, hey, it's third down. Where are we down where are we going like aj brown um you know for the first first half of the season

he was like the best third down receiver in football uh and you started to see like midseason like davante smith started to like eat into that and he became they were i think two of the they were two of the three like top third down receivers in football uh it was somewhere down the stretch when i looked the number up it was like late in the regular season or during the postseason. But regardless, you have those two guys that both had the ability to win quick, and then you have Dallas Goddard who, yeah, we can line up three by one with our three receivers to one side and put Dallas Goddard outside, and Dallas can win one-on-one, and you have to figure that out. So having all of those guys, that's big for a quarterback

because it gives you just that faith to win quickly. Or honestly, with both those guys as well, and all three of them really, they all have the ability to win late as well. I mean, how many of those slot fades, those big box fades did we see? Jalen Hurts loft up to Devontae Smith, certainly to A.J. Brown. And I can remember a couple off top of my head to Dallas Goddard as well on the back shoulder. So it's just basically like, hey, I've got faith that these three guys, like these three horses, they're going to win.

I'm just going to let them do that. Yeah, yeah, for sure. And some closing shots here is one thing, just to pat myself on the back, I did say on your Journey to the Draft episode, mock draft, I took Anthony Richardson over C.J. Stroud and over Will Levis against all the national media people I had Anthony Richardson and I talked about how I think this is just the perfect coach to work with him again Shane Syke and a guy who is that kind of chameleon head coach where he's going to work in

a lot of different ways to get this this quarterback ready just again from your time working with Shane Syke and seeing what he was doing with the Eagles the last two years how good of a fit do you think this is to have him working with Anthony Richardson? It's a great fit. I mean, you just feel good about, you know, he and that coaching staff getting the most out of Anthony Richardson. There was a quote that has been going around from Chris Ballard in recent days where it was like, Hey, like all these quarterbacks, like, you know,

they all, they all had their questions. They all had their flaws. So why not? If you're, if they're all flawed, like let's go for the guy who could be ridiculous, who could be a grand slam. I believe he said, and that's what Richardson is certainly. And you need one of those grand slam quarterbacks to win out in the AFC, right? I mean, you're going up every single week against a burrow against an Allen against them at homes against a Herbert. Like you, you need guys that can compete on that level. If you're going to try and come out of that conference, I really do believe that in the AFC. Yeah.

Yeah, for sure. I love this fit. I love everything about Shane Steichen and Anthony Rich. And I've been calling for it since December. We finally got here in Indy. Every day is make sure you follow Fran Duffy on social medias at Eagles X's and O's.

And again, for all you every day is we'll be back with you guys tomorrow. Talk with Mark Schofield to really go into all the detail about this new quarterback here in Indy, the new franchise quarterback. But again, for all you everydayers, we'll be back with you guys tomorrow. Talk with Mark Schofield to really go into all the detail about this new quarterback here in Indy, the new franchise quarterback. But again, if you're not already, follow Fran Duffy, please, at Eagles X's and O's on Twitter. Just a phenomenal follow for everything Eagles and everything draft related as well. The Journey to the Draft podcast is one of my favorites every single season. And again, if you don't follow us already, at Locked on Coltsts, at JakeArthurNFL, and at ZachHicks2 on Twitter. Also subscribe to LockedOnColts Podcast on YouTube

or wherever you listen to your podcasts. We love your ratings and reviews, and we'll see you guys bright and early tomorrow morning.