Despite being an athletic unicorn with an extremely high ceiling, one of the biggest knocks against Indianapolis Colts rookie quarterback Anthony Richardson was his accuracy numbers during the 2022 season at Florida.
In his first and only season as a starter in college, Richardson posted a paltry 53.8% completion percentage. There are outside factors that led to this including a poor supporting cast and uncreative offense, but Richardson also showed he’s still a work in progress in that department.
In an exclusive interview with The 33rd Team, head coach Shane Steichen explained a bit of his thought process to ensure Richardson improves his accuracy at the NFL level.
“I think the biggest thing for young quarterbacks is not to clutter their minds with so much information. Let them process fast. Let them play fast,” Steichen told The 33rd Team. “I think when you can have a young quarterback play fast and not think about too many different things, that will help their completion percentage and give them easy completions.”
Improving accuracy at the next level is one of the most difficult tasks for a young quarterback, and it is far from a guarantee. Making the offense simple enough yet explosive and creative will be the objective for Steichen in 2023.
But Steichen believes that Richardson can improve his accuracy greatly if they can get on the same page about what they want to do as an offense without throwing too much information at the start.
“That’s the biggest thing. Does it take time to develop that? Yeah, absolutely. The game’s ever-changing. The NFL is obviously a fast-paced game for any young quarterback,” Steichen said. “But when you come in, the biggest thing is just understanding what we’re trying to do with the concepts and what we’re trying to accomplish on every single play. That way their talents will take over, and they can play fast.”
Another key factor in his development as a passer will be the constant work to clean up his mechanics, specifically his lower half. Richardson’s arm and athleticism are so great that he could get by without engaging his lower body all the time.
But he’s already working to improve his footwork and hip usage when throwing, which will pay massive dividends during his rookie season.
It will be a long process, and there will be plenty of growing pains during the 2023 season. But Richardson has the work ethic, athletic talent and supporting staff to make the jump.
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