Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts: Breaking Down the Anthony Richardson Situation

Starting point is 00:00:00 Anthony Richardson did not throw at practice today, but the sky is not falling. Let's get to it. You are Locked On Colts, your daily Indianapolis Colts podcast. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. All right, thanks for tuning in and making us your first listen team every day. All right. Thanks for tuning in and making us 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.

Starting point is 00:00:35 And today's show is brought to you by GameTime. Download the GameTime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNFL for $20 off of your first purchase. Terms apply. What is up, friends and family? This is Jake Arthur from HorseshoeHuddle.com. I am your resident Colts Media member out there at practices, giving you the major scoopage that you're looking for here.

Starting point is 00:00:58 So today was the third and final day of the Colts Mandatory Veteran Minicamp. Kind of lost in all of the practice of it all is the fact that this week is the first time since Anthony Richardson has returned to the practice field following his season-ending shoulder surgery last year that we've seen any, I don't even want to call it like speed bumps or hiccups or anything, but that we've seen anything less than full participation in practice really. So just to kind of catch you guys up to bring you back through it. So before this week, the two weeks prior, media got to see one of the OTA practices each week. So Richardson was out there with the team.

Starting point is 00:01:42 He was a full participant both times. And there was, you know, there was nothing to worry about, you know, all's good. The practices were Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, this week for the veteran mandatory mini camp and business as usual on Tuesday, full participation, you know, yada, yada, all as expected. But on Wednesday, Richardson, you know, wasn't necessarily a full participant. There was a couple times where he would go off to the side, maybe work and look like he worked his shoulder out a little bit. But he looked maybe a little irritated at times, but he was still very engaged with everything. And you he, he was not out there for all

Starting point is 00:02:25 of the reps of 11 on 11s and seven on sevens. Joe Flacco did go out there and take over some of that stuff. Uh, but Richardson did about half of what his normal workload would be during the live drills. And that was the first time we had had any questions about like, okay, so what is, what is this going to be? Because the day prior, prior, he did have, you know, there was a moment where he went to the side after a throw he made during 11 on 11s and then went out on a roller to get like his back worked out, but he didn't miss any action during that. He just like left the field, got his back rolled out and was back in. So that didn't wind up being a problem. So you fast forward to today, Thursday, again, the third and final day of mandatory minicamp. And Richardson was out there suited up taking part in positional drills, but he was not throwing.

Starting point is 00:03:19 And it was very evident right off the bat that he was not throwing because all the other quarterbacks were. Now, it started out, he did make a few like left-handed throws and we're like, oh, is he just kind of messing around doing whatever? But he made probably like four or so left-handed throws and then was clearly, you know, only simulating a throwing motion, but not actually throwing it. Whereas all the other quarterbacks were actually throwing in the drills. So practice was a bit abridged today. Didn't take long for all that to get over. They didn't really do very many live drills and things like that. So of course, we got to speak with Shane Steichen and Anthony after practice, which was great to be able to talk to them after what's been going on. And everybody obviously has these questions about Richardson and his health. And I think it's important for me to

Starting point is 00:04:09 go ahead and just read these to you guys. Cause I I've already seen a lot of, you know, if you've only seen one video clip of today, you think there's a problem or again, the sky is not falling. I'm going to try and give as much context as I can to this. But first, let me just say, like, Richardson not practicing fully today because he was out there. That's not a problem. That's something they were expecting to happen at some point. And really, they're surprised it hadn't already happened before now. So let's see. Let's rewind a couple weeks to really the first time we've talked to Richardson

Starting point is 00:04:46 this offseason he said every day is different for me some days I feel amazing and then some days I wake up and I'm like dang my shoulder is a little achy so yes his shoulder is sore right now that cropped up during practice yesterday. But that is to be expected. You know, the medical team said to expect that, and they were prepared for days like this where they would need to give him the next day off to rest. You know, he just started throwing in February, and he's not fully back. I think he recently said he's about 95% back to, you know, full football ability. You know, he's able to play right now if he needed to,

Starting point is 00:05:26 as far as like being Anthony Richardson, he said he's about 95% there. So it's to be expected that he's going to have achy days. It's not a constant soreness. Like he said, he has his good days where it feels amazing and he has days where it's a little sore. So like, that's fine that this is happening. Again, he was asked if it's to be expected. He like, that's fine that this is happening. Again, he was asked if it's to be expected. He said, Oh yeah, we were actually surprised. It's only been one day like this. Everything has been smooth sailing so far. And then he said, there's nothing to worry about. I've dealt with this before. Normally I just ice up and I go back at it again, but there's no need to try and rush out there for the last day of minicamp when the season's coming up.

Starting point is 00:06:09 Because again, they have like a six-week break now before training camp begins. He wants to get some work in with his skill position guys over this six-week break. So there's no need to really push things. Shane Steichen spoke first day after practice. And one of the very first things he said was, rest assured, if we played this Sunday, Anthony would be starting. You know, he had some soreness in his arm Wednesday, so they're just being precautionary about it. And then, you know, I asked him if they have to rein him in a little bit or because, you know, they're not in control of what he does over this six week break. And Shane said, you know, they'll have a detailed plan for him over the break to make sure

Starting point is 00:06:48 everything, you know, stays normal. Anthony did say that he had his arm checked out, you know, by the medical staff this morning and everything was totally fine. They just, you know, said, let's not have you throwing today. Let's kind of not push it. So I know with the history of Colts quarterbacks and injuries, especially Andrew Luck and his shoulder injury, it's easy to just go into panic mode right away. And I mean, Anthony's season did end early last year, and until we see him back on the field, there's always going to be that waiting for the other shoe to drop, but everything is going according to plan. From everything they've said, even before today,

Starting point is 00:07:38 it's not like they're working backward and trying to ease everybody's mind. They told us to expect days like this and it's happening. It's just the first time we've seen it. So it's, it's kind of ringing everybody's alarm bells. I mean, I, I understand everybody's concern for this, but just reading body language and watching Shane and Anthony today, like they could not have been downplaying this more, you know, that, you know, everything is fine.

Starting point is 00:08:12 Like there's nothing to worry about. Well, let's just move on from this almost to a point of like annoyance because they know we have to ask. They know people are concerned, but it's like, I just forget about it. It's like, it's fine. We're moving on. Everything will be cool and ready to go for training camp. So making that what you will, hopefully I was able to bring a little more context to that and ease what is certainly burdening some people's minds

Starting point is 00:08:35 today about, I'm not even going to call it an injury because it's part of the recovery process of the shoulder surgery that we all know he had. So whatever it is, hopefully you feel better after that. But we're actually going to go ahead in these next couple segments and talk about the action that was on the practice field this week, a little bit of the offense and a little bit of the defense. This next segment is brought to us by our sponsor, BetterHelp. Sometimes we all need the opportunity to get something off of our chest, big or small. Certain things can really start to get to you.

Starting point is 00:09:11 And it's important to let that out, especially to someone who is unbiased in your life, like someone who's not just going to say, it's okay, sweetie, or just, you know, pump up your toxic traits. So again, big or small for me, I have the greatest job in the world covering my hometown team and the sport that I love. But every off season, I've got to talk about the quarterback situation. And I mean, that's not awesome, whether it's their health, their senior citizen status, whatever it is, the quarterback is always in the news, and it's not usually for a great reason. Case in point, what I just talked about.

Starting point is 00:09:49 So therapy can be different for everybody. Most of us have bigger problems than what I just said, but it's important to get things off your chest, whatever's bothering you. You know, keeping everything inside is obviously a little toxic. So if you're thinking of starting therapy, give BetterHelp a try. It's entirely online, designed to be flexible and suited to your schedule. So visit betterhelp.com slash lockdown to get 10% off of your first month.

Starting point is 00:10:13 That's betterhelp, H-E-L-P.com slash lockdown. You guys out there watching Fox Sports or ESPN on your TV all day long or even have it built into your morning routine. If you have to turn down the volume with all that shouting, or you just have to walk away with, you know, the hot take machine,

Starting point is 00:10:32 you really ought to make the switch over to Locked On Sports today. It's a free 24 seven sports streaming channel program for you every day to bring you the biggest stories without all the shouting. Locked On Sports today brings you can't miss analysis, opinions and news streaming 24-7 on YouTube or the free Amazon Fire TV channels app. It's part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. All right, y'all, so let's talk about a little bit of the offense,

Starting point is 00:10:57 what we saw in the three days there. Obviously, Anthony did get some work done on the field. And, you know, you can't tell much about the offense right now in terms of what different things to expect. Other than Anthony is working his way back. He's on schedule to return just normally. Jonathan Taylor's back. He obviously missed time last year. Jelani Woods is back.

Starting point is 00:11:21 Drew Ogletree is back. You've got all these guys who missed so much time back playing together. It seems odd. It seems almost like a new team because so many of those guys missed so much time. Alec Pierce was out really for most of the week. Shane said that he got his foot stepped on in practice last week or something, so they kept him out. no need to force that Braden Smith hasn't been back yet,

Starting point is 00:11:49 but I think that was kind of to be expected because he had a procedure done on that knee that bothered him all last year. So other than those guys, it does seem very new. Michael Pittman jr. Obviously was out after he had that, that banged up knee a couple of weeks ago, regardless of Pittman being in obviously was out after he had that banged up knee a couple weeks ago.

Starting point is 00:12:12 Regardless of Pittman being in or out of the lineup, I would expect Josh Downs to be heavily utilized. His chemistry with Richardson is very, very clear. Far and away, he had the most receptions of everybody. Ever since we've been watching a few weeks ago with OTA practice, minicamp practice now, the guy's caught ball after ball after ball. He was easily the focal point of the passing offense without Pittman in there. I think A.D. Mitchell is probably going to contribute quicker than I thought. I thought they would just like kind of slowly work him in. You know, they have Alec Pierce. They believe in Alec Pierce. And, you know, since he has that utility as a blocker as well, there's not a ton of reason not to have him on the field. But Mitchell is just making plays and he's kind of living up to the billing of what he was supposed

Starting point is 00:13:01 to be coming out of college. He catches everything. He can make contested catches. He can make really acrobatic catches. He's fast. He gets separation. He can run a decent amount of routes. He's just really been doing most everything right so far. And the biggest part about that is, you know I mentioned injuries to Pierce and Pittman. He's been doing this with Anthony Richardson. So he's making all these plays with the starting quarterback, which is a big deal because year after year, you know, the Colts always have at least one summer superstar wide receiver. It seems like someone blows up training camp,

Starting point is 00:13:39 but they're catching balls from Sam Ellinger or they're catching balls from the backup quarterback or whatever. This is A.D. Mitchell already forming a big play chemistry with Anthony Richardson. So I think that's a big deal. Mitchell this week was talking about how playing with him, playing with Richardson, he's a freak. He's like a creative player on Madden. And then today, Richardson threw very similar praise back at Mitchell, saying he sees Mitchell doing things that you don't see a lot of other wide receivers doing.

Starting point is 00:14:14 So he's already got a lot of trust in him. He, you know, they're both young players. So it's not like it's Aaron Rodgers being crotchety and trying to, you know, start trusting a young rookie wide receiver. Richardson's pretty open-minded about all this, and he really likes the way that Mitchell moves out there and gets open and knows that if he throws the ball down there that Mitchell's probably going to come down with it. So I'm not saying Pierce is totally going to get phased out of this offense right away, but I do think Mitchell is going to have a bigger role early on than I initially thought. Because so far, I mean, you have to see it in a game scenario,

Starting point is 00:14:51 but I don't know what boxes Mitchell's not checking right now. It's all going very, very well. You know, Richardson is speaking very highly of him. Shane Steichen, Reggie Wayne is speaking very highly of him. And Reggie's a guy that's going to kind of shoot it to you straight. If someone is not holding up their end of the bargain or even if they're developing slow or whatever, because I mean, it's a rookie still in the spring of his rookie season. So like Mitchell doesn't have to be setting the world on fire. Rookies aren't really supposed to. Everybody is saying all the best things about Mitchell right now. So again, I think he'll be pretty, pretty, I think he'll have a bigger role than some of us maybe thought early on. Looking at how Richardson actually did on the field, not a ton of 11 on 11

Starting point is 00:15:38 work, at least passing, like there was a lot of running the first like day day and a half but he was five of seven during 11 on 11 drills uh on wood i think it was tuesday that i got moved inside because of rain uh but him and flacco were just lighting it on fire the first day they did a lot of red zone stuff um richardson had a couple touchdowns uh he had one to mitchell he had a couple of their big downfield pass plays to mitchell as well uh flacco like in rapid succession it seemed like had three short touchdowns uh he had one to ethan fernia dj montgomery and mo alley cox uh that's i think that's the big key to having a true veteran back there as your backup because I mean Gardner Minshew was fine at a lot of things but the red zone is not exactly where he excelled Flacco has seen and done everything in the NFL and that's a guy who sees those narrow windows in the red zone and can get

Starting point is 00:16:42 the ball into those tight windows and that that was pretty evident during Tuesday's practice. So really good to see passing in the red zone being successful because, again, that's the hardest area of the field to throw the ball. So we saw that when Richardson was in there last year as a rookie, the Colts scored a touchdown in the red zone every drive that Richardson was in there last year as a rookie, but Colts scored a touchdown in the red zone every drive that Richardson was out there, except for the one where he got hurt in that week one game against the Jaguars and he didn't complete the drive. So red zone should be pretty successful this year, I would think, especially having Jonathan Taylor healthy and back in there, that helps immensely as well. Talking about Joe Flacco, he was absolutely ripping it.

Starting point is 00:17:26 That guy does not care to just simply move the chains. He's looking for blood whenever he can. On Wednesday, he really had a tight bond with Anthony Gould, especially downfield. Had a couple downfield bombs to him. One on a deep post, one on a corner out, really productive downfield connection from Flacco to Anthony Gould. So that was really cool to see. But yeah, Flacco is just looking for the money ball time after time. So if Flacco ever has to be in there, even if it's in a blowout, I would, I would expect to see some downfield shots still,

Starting point is 00:18:03 because that is a guy that does not seem interested in just simply taking the dinks and donks. That guy wants to rip it. So that was really cool to see because obviously that was missing in the Colts passing game last year without Richardson in there. Sam Mellinger, not his greatest minicamp that I've ever seen from him. We'll get to one of the lowlights in a minute, but he did have a couple high plays here. In those red zone drills that I was talking about, he also had a really nice play to Tyree Cleveland.

Starting point is 00:18:35 Threw it high to Cleveland in the back of the end zone, and Cleveland just high-pointed it over Kendall Brooks and Marcel Dabo in the back of the end zone. It was a real, I don't know how else to describe it other than like an alpha receiver type play, which obviously that's not what Cleveland is, but just like the optics of that play were really cool to see. You know, just kind of mossing a couple guys in the back of the end zone and just kind of staring them down a little bit when you're done. Today, Ellinger let one rip to Evan Hull,

Starting point is 00:19:06 who just kind of bounced off his hands and kept floating up the field a bit. And Ethan Fernia went out and dove for it and caught it. That was really the only big play of today because, again, it was a very abridged version of practice today as the final day of minicamp before the break often is. So that was probably the highlight play of the day. So coming up next, I will talk about the defense a little bit

Starting point is 00:19:30 and what some of those guys brought to the table. Game time makes getting NBA Finals tickets even faster and easier. Celtics-Mavericks starts tonight, Thursday night. Prices on the Game Time app actually go down the closer that it gets to tip off. With killer last-minute deals, all-in prices, views from your seat, and their lowest price guarantee, GameTime takes the guesswork out of buying NBA tickets. They've got the last-minute deals,

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Starting point is 00:20:43 Terms apply. Again, create an account and redeem code L-O-C-K-E-D-O-N-N-F-L for $20 off of your first purchase. Download the GameTime app today. Last-minute tickets, lowest price, guaranteed. All right, defense wins championships, right? If the Colts hope to do that, they probably need to do a little better on defense than how they fared last year. That's obviously a give and take with the offense. The

Starting point is 00:21:09 offense has to hold up its part, so the defense isn't on the field all the time. That's for a whole different show. The defense, as it normally does, it brought the energy. It brought the juice. That's always a very loud, energetic group. You know, they love to celebrate big plays more than anybody, it seems, all the time. The defense is always fun to watch during practices. And again, they always seem to kind of have the upper hand because the offense is kind of trying to work through things, see what works on certain plays and looks and things.

Starting point is 00:21:41 And the defense is just kind of, you know, they're there to combat that. So they're always pretty successful. There's a lot of back and forth this week. I think overall through the offseason practices that we've seen, the defense has probably won. You know, they've been physical. They've been able to stop some things. But again, it's not live football. There were some things, especially on Wednesday, that stuck out to me from a pass rush perspective. And obviously Richardson was not feeling his best. Uh, it's what sparked the whole, him beginning to, to not throw and sit out thing.

Starting point is 00:22:18 Uh, but DeForest Buckner had a sack, um, a would be sack because you're obviously not really hitting the quarterback. Uh, and then there was a group sack as well, which seemed to be led by Taven Bryan. Um, so they got a couple good sacks there I noticed as they got into late game situations towards the latter part of practice Latu was in there at defensive end with you know with the first team and that guy flies off the ball and he is so smooth and so fast and he of course always has a pass rush plan, but I don't even just want to call it a plan because sometimes, you know, when you're, when you're trying to think on the fly and the bullets are going, you just kind of lean on your natural instincts. And he's just

Starting point is 00:22:56 like got moves built into his natural movements. Like this is a guy that has so many pass rush moves and counter moves and everything built into his DNA and just natural motion. It seems like now, like it's just second nature to him. He's just, at some point he's going to be a really, really productive player. I've mostly noticed him with the second group throughout the spring. So I don't know how fast he's going to be a starter necessarily. I don't think there's any rush to make him any more than like a designated pass rusher initially, like get his feet wet, get him starting to get a more comfortable build up confidence. And then you can start throwing more on his plate.

Starting point is 00:23:37 But no, I thought he looked really smooth and just he seems to move at a different pace than, than the rest of the defensive ends for the most part. Nope, this was Wednesday. One of the lowlights I talked about, Ellinger. Now, this is a guy that I don't think I've ever mentioned his name on the show, and that's linebacker Austin Ajiaki, which I hope I said his name right. He had a really easy interception off of Ellinger, just kind of like a 5-10 yard dump off over the middle of the field and it was just right there in his breadbasket to take it. That was in the red zone drills.

Starting point is 00:24:11 So no more valuable place on any part of the field to get an interception than there really. And then let's see, to conclude minicamp today, again, they're, you know, they got like six weeks off until training camp starts. So minicamp is almost always concluded with some sort of like fun team activities, some sort of like fun competition. Today, what they did was they had Quiddy Pay, Blake Freeland and EJ Speed. They were throwing the ball at a moving target. So a couple staffers, you know, equipment staffers, whatever, held up big pads and there was like a tackling dummy on the back of one of the carts and they drove across the field and had almost like a quarterback

Starting point is 00:24:53 competition, which EJ Speed appeared to win. Ball looks good coming off his hands. Joked with, guys joked with Shane Steichen after practice that maybe EJ might want to be the, uh, the emergency quarterback if needed. So, uh, that was good. We are now on to off season mode. Now guys, again, we've got like, um, what, like six weeks that they'll, they'll announce the training camp schedule at some time in the coming, in the few coming weeks. I'm sure we know officially the cardinals are coming in for joint practices uh there'll be two of those that was officially announced today even though

Starting point is 00:25:30 shane told us about that like last week uh the colts will be in cincinnati for one joint practice before the preseason finale uh there so i i should be at all three of those so i'll let you guys know um whenever we're actually on site doing that you know i'll have news for you guys from there so um we the network is going you know the nfl channels now that it's officially off season for us technically we can go down to uh three shows a week now so i mean you may not get us four or five times a week up until training camp. It may just be three times, but we'll be sure to stay consistent for you. And, you know, we can't stop talking Colts. And we're still working on our position by position reviews as well.

Starting point is 00:26:16 So we got to get the interior offensive line in there next, and then we'll start moving on to the defense. So do not forget that Locked On has launched the first ever national sports 24-7 streaming channel on YouTube. And now it's also available on the Amazon Fire TV app in the free Fire TV channels app. Locked On Sports Today is here for you 24-7 covering the top sports stories of the day with the local experts of Locked On plus our national shows covering

Starting point is 00:26:42 every single league. So find Locked On Sports Today now available on the free Fire TV channels app. And of course, if you don't already, follow at Locked On Colts, at JakeArthurNFL, and at ZachHicks2 on Twitter. Also, please be sure to subscribe on YouTube and wherever you listen to podcasts. We would love your ratings and reviews as well. And with that, we will see you guys very, very soon.

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Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts: Breaking Down the Anthony Richardson Situation

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