Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Why Anthony Richardson was drafted by the Indianapolis Colts | 2023 NFL Draft Reaction

Starting point is 00:00:00 Locked on NFL draft coverage is presented by Ultimate Football GM. You think you can run an NFL franchise? Visit ultimate-gm.com to play the ultimate NFL GM simulation game. Start your dynasty today. The Indianapolis Colts have selected Florida quarterback Anthony Richardson with the number four overall pick. We got three quarterbacks in the first four picks. I'm Peter Bukowski with Zach Hicks from Locked on Colts.

Starting point is 00:00:27 And Zach has a big smile on his face because it seemed like this was the guy the Colts had targeted all along. Why does this make sense for Indianapolis with new coach Shane Steichen? Oh man, first off, I am over the moon right now. This is the perfect selection. I mean, I've gone on a lot of shows and stuff like that. I did something with Fran Duffy recently, too, where I was like, look, even if Stroud's on the board, the Colts are going to go Richardson.

Starting point is 00:00:51 They have to go Richardson because this is the perfect fit for this offense. Shane Steichen, you know, he's an adaptable coach. He'll do a lot of different things to to reach his end goals. But he's a North Turner guy. He's an air choreiel type of guy. He wants to attack vertical. That is everything that Shane Steichen wants to do. Why not grab the freakiest athlete we've ever seen at quarterback that's going to get defenses

Starting point is 00:01:15 into single high looks all day long? Oh, and by the way, he's also a really good deep passer as well. Like Anthony Richardson, for everything he's not not everything he is right now is a highly athletic player that can attack down the field. Shane Sikens got to be salivating looking at that. And I do not doubt whatsoever that Shane Sikens, you know, if it came down to two players or it came down to anything, Shane Sikens said, get me this freak, get me this alien quarterback. How much of this selection with Shane Sikens do you think is informed by his experience with Jalen Hurts having been in Philadelphia, watching the maturity, the growth process there, and then ultimately last

Starting point is 00:01:50 year blossom into a superstar talent that took his team to the Super Bowl? Yeah, no, I think Philly has a big impact on this selection. One, because again, Steichen kind of figured out a mobile quarterback in Jalen Hurts who, you know, when he took over in Philly, Hurts had 200 snaps under his belt and he was a 52% passer. You know, he's a 52% passer back in 2020. He takes in Jalen Hurts, gets him up to the 60s in year one, now gets up to what, 68 last year percent passer. Now, I'm not saying that's going to be the same exact thing for Anthony Richardson, but he finally, you know, he kind of figured out how to work out that kind of passer. And then I think another thing with the Philly connection is Brian Johnson, the QB coach turned offensive coordinator. Shane Steichen has a close relationship with him and Brian Johnson was at Florida with Anthony Richardson. So I don't doubt

Starting point is 00:02:38 whatsoever he leaned on that connection. And if there were any questions whatsoever, I'm sure he asked Brian Johnson, like, what do you think of this kid? You know, he has the talent. Can he be that next star? And ultimately again, the Colts, they definitely believed in that and they, and they made him the fourth overall pick. The last few years, it seemed like the Colts were on that veteran quarterback hamster wheel. First it's Phillip Rivers, then Carson Wentz, then Matt Ryan. I guess Sam Ellinger counts in there a little bit. Why was now the right time to hit reset on this? Because Jim Irsay seems like the kind of owner who wants these results now, but this feels like, okay, we're going to take our time, new head coach, now the franchise quarterback,

Starting point is 00:03:15 and you move forward. Yeah, what's actually fascinating about this all season is the Colts are not really in that we need to win right now mode. It's we were trying the Band-Aid route the last three years. Like everything was Band-Aid, Band-Aid, Band-Aid. And we were only looking forward to that next season. We were not really planning for the season out. And a lot of that is because Phillip Rivers had way too much success in that one season in 2020. Way too much success.

Starting point is 00:03:38 So they kept thinking they were only just one more Band-Aid away from getting a deep playoff run. Last year was kind of that gut check for everyone in the organization. It was, we are not just a quarterback way. We're not just the bandaid away. So we're going to bring in this young offensive coordinator to be our head coach, give him a six year deal, let him get his guy at quarterback. And we're going to start playing, you know, yes,

Starting point is 00:04:00 we want to have success in 2023, but our goal is not just 2023. Now it's also 2024, 2025 and 2026 and so on. So I think a lot of this process has been the Colts being like, look, we have time. Chris Fowler is on the hot seat. Shane Steichen is obviously not on the hot seat because he just got here. You guys do your thing and put all your chips in on who you think could be the best quarterback. I don't care if they're the best quarterback in 2023. I care that they're the best quarterback in 2025, 2026. So everything about this process said that from the free agent deals they gave out to kind of the direction of the roster.

Starting point is 00:04:34 And again, Anthony Richardson's kind of really indicative of that process there. Yeah. And even though he is quarterback three, Anthony Richardson, even among the people who are like, I don't know about Anthony Richardson. The consensus is this has the most upside of, of maybe any player in the entire draft. So you're trying to hit a home run here, not a single or a double, which is kind of how this felt over the last few years at the quarterback position. How much overlap do you think we will see from what we saw in Philadelphia with the Jalen hurts plan?, let's call it, of, okay, let's utilize the legs. Let's make this a run heavy offense.

Starting point is 00:05:09 I don't know if you've heard of Jonathan Taylor, also in the backfield. And then, okay, maybe in a year you can bring in another premium receiver talent. Because right now that's going to be the question with this team, right? The pass catchers. So is this the Jalen Hurts plan, do you think? I think it's going to be a very similar process. And to kind of go with what you were just saying about him being the highest upside player in the draft. I know one word we're going to hear a lot on the, with the next pick

Starting point is 00:05:31 series with the Colts is the word alien. We're going to hear a lot of the word alien. I'm guessing Morocco Brown is going to be the one saying alien. So you guys will see that here in the next couple of days, but yeah, no, I think it's going to be very much the Jalen Hurts plan where year one, you know, the goal is to be the best rushing offense next couple of days. But yeah, no, I think it's going to be very much the Jalen Hurts plan where year one, you know, the goal is to be the best rushing offense in all of football. You know, we're going to have this power run game. We're going to lean on Jonathan Taylor. We're going to lean on the threat of Anthony Richardson's legs.

Starting point is 00:05:54 And, you know, if we're throwing the ball past 20 yards every, you know, every one and every five plays 20% of the time, they'll do that. You know, they will do that. Keep tacking downfield, keep opening up those run lanes and leaning on that until Anthony Richardson is where you want him to be as a passer. So I think they have the long-term plan set. Jalen Hurts set the, you know, kind of set it up for them. Obviously you can look at guys like Josh Allen too in Buffalo and kind of see that plan and how that went out. But I think the Colts are set up, you know, I think they're one of the best teams set up for Anthony Richardson to hit his potential.

Starting point is 00:06:26 I mean, if you're Anthony Richardson's camp and you're looking around all the teams that were up high, this is the team that you want to go to. You want to go to Shane Steichen. You wanted Jonathan Taylor. You wanted, I know they didn't have a great season last year, but you know, Quinton Nelson and Braden Smith and all them on the offensive line, you know, you wanted this destination for Anthony Richardson. So I think, you know, again, just like me, everybody's happy right now.

Starting point is 00:06:47 Well, it is going to be a very fun time to see how this all plays itself out. AFC South has a lot of young quarterback talent in it right now. For more on the Colts draft and all things Indianapolis Colts, be sure to subscribe to Locked on Colts, part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. Zay, thanks.

Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Why Anthony Richardson was drafted by the Indianapolis Colts | 2023 NFL Draft Reaction

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.