The vibes are high in the Circle City after the Indianapolis Colts selected Anthony Richardson to become their new leader of the franchise. Now the question is, how soon will the rookie quarterback play for his new team?
Let’s take a look at the four most important people that will influence the decision of when the new franchise quarterback will make his new start starting with the man himself.
“I’m going to try and be ready as fast as I can,” Richardson said after the draft. “You know, try to be ready before preseason, try to be ready before the first game. I mean, they picked me this high for a reason, so I’m going to put the work in and make sure I’m ready for the franchise.”
While Richardson will do everything in his power, in the end, he won’t be making the call on when he will see the field. But it is promising that he will end up starting sooner than later when you take a look at how the three most important decision-makers feel about him playing.
Jim Irsay certainly thinks it will benefit his new quarterback.
“I think it’s important,” Irsay said. “You get better by playing. I mean, practice and preseason games and watching in a quarterback room, that’s great. But, man, I’ll tell you, he’d get better by playing, and it’s something that it is really important. Because, again, his development [is] so much of a key to the franchise’s future. It is the critical key.
“I know that’s one of the primary reasons why you start [him] opening game is because it gets better by playing,” Irsay said. “That’s the biggest benefit from it. And at the same time, I have to say, the fans have to have patience. Because it’s hard. We’ll see what happens, and he can surprise a lot of people.
Irsay showed last season he will go over the head of his general manager and head coach, but thus far in the Shane Steichen era, it does appear he’s letting his new head coach call the shots and acknowledge that it is up to him when Richardson gets his first career start.
“It’s going to be Shane’s call.’’
The new Colts head coach is in lockstep with the owner on getting the first-year quarterback in live action.
“The development of players comes with more experience,” Steichen said. “(Richardson had) 13 starts, I think when you play more, that’s how you develop. You know what I mean? So, with him playing and his experience as a player and getting more reps, practice reps, game reps, I think that’s how you develop.”
While Chris Ballard preached patience, he didn’t rule out Richardson earning the starting job and also showed an agreement that players need to play in order to develop to hit their ceilings.
“We’ve got to let these guys develop and play. They’re going to have some struggles and then they’ve got to work through the struggles and eventually, their talent, the more they play, their talent will come to life.”
Patience will be key for Richardson’s development. The upside is enticing, but Ballard knows there will be some ups and downs.
“He’s got to come in and earn his way like every player we bring in. Let’s not expect him to be Superman from Day One,” Ballard said. “I think history has shown there’s not many of them that are Superman from Day One. Some of them it takes two, three years for them to become a really good player. … It’s the one area where teams that, the pressure for these guys after one or two years — back 10, 15 years ago, guys would get year three, four, five. Think about it. Terry Bradshaw, he might have never played in today’s NFL. It took him time in Pittsburgh.”
“Let’s not crown him yet,” Ballard said. “He’s a young player. He’s got work to do, but we like his talent. We like what he can be. … We drafted him for what we think he can really be in the future.”
All signs coming from Irsay, Steichen, and Ballard indicate that Richardson will be making his first start for Indianapolis as early as the opening game. So, what does history tell us?
According to a study done over at 4for4, since 2000, quarterbacks selected in the top 15 picks play an average of 10.7 games in their rookie season. 27 of the 47 quarterbacks started at least 12 games, 20 of the 47 started in Week 1, and 31 of the 47 made their first start by Week 4.
Now let’s consider what could hold back Richardson from starting in Week 1.
The biggest obstacle for him is getting a full understanding of the scheme he will be playing in. Can he effectively communicate to his teammates the play call and make sure the pass protection is in order for his offensive line? The coaching staff will also need to believe he can handle the two-minute offense as well.
There also could be a scheduling factor, which comes out on May 11th and will give us a clearer picture. If the first few weeks feature games against good defenses or on the road in an environment that can be difficult for a rookie quarterback, then Steichen could let Gardner Minshew handle the start of the season before he unleashes Richardson.
Even if Richardson doesn’t have a full grasp of the offense or the coaching staff wants to have him develop behind the scenes before he makes his first start, I do believe that he will see the field in the opening game regardless. Because of his rushing ability, Steichen will likely at least have some packages that can utilize his skillset and get him with the starting offense to help further the development that he talked about with his quarterback.
As far as my personal opinion, Richardson should be starting in Week 1. Not only does it give him the playing experience that he needs, but his athleticism and pocket presence can also help him overcome his deficiencies. Plus his homerun ability helps make the offense more explosive and will open up rushing lanes for Jonathan Taylor. He simply makes the offense more potent with him on the field than Minshew.
But there is something to be said about being able to command a huddle and keep the offense moving at a reasonable pace.
Only time will tell when Richardson will make his first career start, but coming out of the NFL draft, it certainly feels like he will be out there to take the first snap for the 2023 season.
