From Timmay (@Timmaaayy86):
From Jason Hulsman (@HulsmanJason):
Timmay and Jason, first of all, the health piece of it is important because, even though Richardson’s built like a battleship, he simply hasn’t been able to stay on the field. He had injuries in high school. He had injuries at Florida, including hamstring and knee issues which blew up his redshirt freshman season—he had knee surgery in December 2021—and he sustained a concussion during his third year (and second football season) as a Gator. Last year, of course, another concussion preceded his season-ending shoulder injury.
At some point, as hard as this is to say, these things can’t be called a coincidence. And it is something that I brought up to Indianapolis Colts coach Shane Steichen last month. Steichen told me, as he sees it, the Colts have to be careful, and Richardson has to be, too.
“I mean, it’s just being smart on when to get down,” Steichen said. “It’s a happy medium. There’s a time and a place where it’s fourth down and you gotta have it and the game’s on the line, where you gotta go get it. But if it’s first-and-10 and you scramble and you can make it second-and-4 and take a big hit or make it second-and-6 and get down, .”
If Richardson and the Colts can strike that happy medium, there’s limitless potential for what the quarterback can do and, with Steichen and his staff in place, I’m gonna trust that the situation around him is going to keep getting better.
Having an entrenched left tackle—rising third-year man Bernhard Raimann (Austria’s own!)—should make all the difference for a line that’s always had good players and is getting deeper. And with Michael Pittman Jr. signed long-term, and Alec Pierce and Josh Downs having really strong offseasons, it looks like there are a lot of nice pieces around the Colts’ top guy at the position.
Arrow’s pointing up in Indy (with the problem being that it certainly is in Houston, too).
