Anthony Richardson is expected to return to the field this Sunday after a two-week absence and fantasy football managers who drafted him as a breakout candidate, including SI Fantasy insider Mike Fabiano, are excited to see what he can add to their team.
Only, don’t ask Richardson for fantasy advice.
“I hear about fantasy football a lot,” Richardson said on Sports Illustrated’s Fantasy Dirt Podcast. “I don’t necessarily understand it quite, quite yet. But people tell me all the time I’m on their fantasy team and I guess I can say I appreciate that.”
Richardson joined the Fantasy Dirt podcast on behalf of Dairy Queen and discussed his expected return to the field, how his film study changed while he was out with an oblique injury, what having backup QB Joe Flacco on the team means to him, and how he anticipates protecting himself more after missing 13 games his rookie season and again being sidelined for some time this year.
You can watch the full interview above and download the full Fantasy Dirt podcast here.
The most important piece of news to come out of the interview for fantasy fans was Richardson saying he does expect to play this week after suffering an oblique injury in the Colts’ Week 4 game against the Steelers. Flacco relieved Richardson in that game and led them to a comeback win.
“Hopefully everything goes as planned and I’m out there this week with my guys,” Richardson said on Fantasy Dirt.
Before the injury, Richardson had struggled for fantasy managers, throwing 3 TDs to 6 INTs and never eclipsing 212 passing yards in a game. He also rushed for 141 yards and a TD. On the year, he's averaging just over 10 points per game in standard leagues.
Coming into this season, Fabiano ranked Richardson as his top breakout quarterback for fantasy football and ranked him as high as 6th in his dynasty startup QB rankings in the preseason. Richardson averaged more than 22 points in his first three games as a rookie before getting hurt, so the selection made sense.
Now that Richardson is returning, fantasy managers have the tough choice of whether to start him or sit him. Fabiano has him ranked 12th in this week’s QB rankings, meaning Fab's thinks he's a start for most teams.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Anthony Richardson Talks Colts Return and Fantasy Football .
